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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
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https://archive.org/details/lifeofstsamsonof00sams 


 Aokece Mee: OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE 
SERIES V 
LIVES OF THE CELTIC SAINTS 
EDITED BY ELEANOR HULL 


Por Lik OF ST. SAMSON 
OF DOL 





DOL CATHEDRAL. 


Frontispiece. Samson of Dol. 


| Kul DF THMNEER 
THE LIFE OF” a = 
ST. SAMSON OF DOL” 


BY 


THOMAS “TAYLOR, B.D. 


WITH A FRONTISPIECE 


LONDON 
SOCLETY: FOR PROMO TING 
CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE 
NEW YORK AND TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN CO, 


Printed in Great Britain, 


1925 


PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY 
RicHARD Cray & Sons, LimiTep, 
BUNGAY, SUFFOLK, 


INTRODUCTION 


LitTLE is known of British and Irish Christianity 
during the first three centuries of our era. No Christian 
inscriptions have been found in Britain of an earlier 
date than the middle of the fourth century, and with the 
single exception of the martyrdoms of St. Alban at 
Verulam and of St. Aaron and St. Julius at Caerleon, 
between A.D. 286 and 304, recorded by Gildas and the 
Venerable Bede, history is silent on the subject. 

The fourth century, a period of momentous interest 
for the rest of Christendom, marked by the decisions of 
two General Councils, by the labours of great theologians 
like Athanasius, Ambrose, Gregory of Nazianzus and 
Chrysostom, by the rise and spread of Christian monasti- 
cism,! and, above all, by the bestowal of ecclesiastical 
liberty in largest measure, was apparently, for Britain 
and Ireland, a time of preparation and progress, some 
of the results of which were to be made manifest in the 
century which followed. There is one historical event, 
however, which, occurring as it did near the beginning 
of the fourth century, has necessarily given rise to 
much speculation and ought not to be passed over. The 
British Church was summoned to take part in the Council 
or Synod of Arles in Southern Gaul in the year 314, 
the object of which was, intey alia, to determine the 
validity of Cecilian’s consecration as Bishop of Carthage 
by Felix, who lay under the imputation of having apos- 
tatised during the Diocletian persecution, To this 


1 St. Anthony organised it in Egypt in or about the year 305. 
Lowther Clarke, Lausiac History of Palladius, p. 93. 
Vv 


vi INTRODUCTION 


Council three British bishops, those of York, London and 
Lincoln (or Czrleon), were invited. How and by whom 
had the Christian religion been first introduced into this 
country? Various answers have been submitted. Chris- 
tian captives brought to Britain, foreign soldiers belong- 
ing to the Roman army of occupation, demobilised 
British soldiers who whilst on service in other parts of 
the Empire had been converted to the Christian religion, 
Christian traders to Britain who had eventually made it 
their home—some or all of these instrumentalities, apart 
from direct missionary enterprise, which must also be 
allowed for, probably contributed. There is, however, 
yet another element which Professor Bury has admirably 
described in his Life of St. Paivick as the ‘“‘ immeasurable 
reverence for Rome which is one of the governing 
psychical facts in the history of ‘ the wandering of the 
nations.’”” This element would obviously be of little 
advantage to Christianity until the days of Constantine 
the Great; but, with his recognition of Christianity in 
the year 323, and in a much greater degree, when under 
Theodosius I in 386 it became practically established as 
the religion of the Empire, we can believe that a vast 
impetus would be given to its diffusion not only in 
Britain, which was a part of the Empire, but also in 
countries like Ireland, which had never been brought 
under Imperial rule. There is yet another point which 
must be kept in mind, even at this stage in our sketch 
of the causes contributory to the spread of Christ’s 
religion. The relations between Britain and Gaul, long 
before the British exodus to Armorica in the fifth century, 
were close and intimate both as the result of geographical 
proximity and of kinship in blood and religion. These 
had been the causes which led Julius Cesar to invade 
Britain, and these doubtless account for the points of 
agreement to be noted later between the Gallican and 


INTRODUCTION vii 


British Liturgy, and possibly for the visits of St. German, 
St. Loup and Severus. It is not without reason that Gaul 
has come to be regarded as the immediate source of 
British Christianity. 

When the fifth century dawned Alaric was on the point 
of invading Italy, Patrick, the future apostle of Ireland, 
was a lad of twelve years living with Calpurnius, his father, 
in Britain; Pelagius, the protagonist of free-will upon 
which he based the denial of original sin,4 was already 
at Rome. All three were to shape directly or indirectly 
the habit, character, and polity of the British Church. 
The invasion of Italy and consequent withdrawal of the 
Roman legions, left Britain at the mercy of the Saxon 
invader. Large numbers of the Britons sought refuge in 
the west, especially in the more remote and inaccessible 
regions of Wales and Cornwall, while others crossed the 
Channel and practically colonised Armorica, which was 
soon to be known as Lesser Britain or Brittany. This 
exodus began in the second quarter of the century and 
continued for a century and a half,? and as a result of 
it we find on either side of the Channel a race with the 
same language and religious customs, in frequent com- 
munication and the sharers of a common tradition. 

The heresy of Pelagius penetrated to Britain, though 
there are no grounds for supposing that he himself 
promulgated it among his own countrymen, and in 
429 St. German of Auxerre and St. Loup (Lupus) of 
Troyes were sent to bring the Britons to a better mind. 
On its recrudescence St. German, accompanied by 
Severus, Bishop of Tréves, paid a second visit in 447. 
These visits serve to show that there was already in the 


1 Dr. Newman has called attention to the fact that this doctrine 
is to be found neither in the Apostles’ nor the Nicene Creed. 
Essay on Development, p. 19. 

2 Loth, L’Emigration Bretonne, p. 158. 


Viil INTRODUCTION 


earlier half of the century a considerable body of Chris- 
tians 1 in West Britain who probably looked to Gaul as 
their spiritual mother. It is not improbable that to 
these missions of St. German and his companions we owe, 
if not the origin, the rapid growth of monasticism, which, 
in the four centuries which followed, wrought a complete 
transformation in the polity and discipline of the British 
Church. St. Patrick-studied under and was consecrated 
by St. German. St. Loup, before he became a bishop, 
had been a monk of Lérins. At the same time there is 
no reason to doubt that the missions of St. German, 
originating in appeals from Britain, had the sanction of 
Pope Celestine, though St. German's biographer is silent 
on the point. Be that as it may, it is certain that by 
the middle of the sixth century the predominant element 
of the British Church was monastic. In the Life of St. 
Samson (i. 7) we are told that Iltut (Eltut), Samson’s 
master, had been ordained priest by St. German and that 
the monastery over which St. Samson presided had been 
founded by St.German. The former statement does not 
agree with the accepted chronology, and the latter may 
be an ellipsis, but in any case such statements imply 
that St. German was regarded, in the seventh century, 
as an active promoter of the monastic ideal in Britain. 
In the earlier half of the fifth century the intercourse 
between Southern Gaul and the East was intimate and 
constant. St. Jerome was living at Bethlehem and was 
in frequent communication with Southern Gaul. His 
courier, a monk named Sysinnius, kept the latter region 
regularly supplied with news of the monks of the Thebaid 
and of Nitria. Cassian, who had been educated at 


1 St. Athanasius in 363 had included Britain among those 
nations who remained faithful to the Catholic Faith. Haddon 
and Stubbs, Councils, I, 7, 8. 

* Prosper, a contemporary, expressly states that Celestine 
sent St. German. 


INTRODUCTION 1x 


Bethlehem, was living in Southern Gaul. He, like 
Jerome, was a strenuous apostle of the religious life. It 
is therefore not improbable that already, before St. 
German’s visits, the seeds of the monastic ideal had been 
sown. That it found a congenial soil in Celtic lands has 
been pointed out by Professor Loth.! The disposition of 
the Celt was to withdraw from active life and to seek “a 
land of peace and of eternal youth where the body never 
withers and there are none save young men and girls, 
who know nothing of sin or of sickness or of death.” 
Face to face with the sterner ideals of the Christian 
Gospel, to the Celt the religious life became a consuming 
passion. It promised dangers, adventures and hardships 
such as called into play the best resources of heroic 
manhood. It was at once social and individual. The 
cloistered cenobite, at the beck of the Spirit, might at 
any moment, with his abbat’s consent, become a solitary, 
and the solitary a cenobite. The moral influence of such 
men was unbounded. They were accepted as the Lord’s 
prophets who, for His Name’s sake, appeared before 
kings with the thunderbolts of judgment, who out of 
weakness were made strong, men indeed “ of whom the 
world was not worthy, who wandered in deserts and in 
mountains and in dens and caves of the earth.” 

In Britain the most important monastery in the fifth 
century was that of Llantwit, founded by St. Eltut 
(Iitut), who counted among his disciples St. Samson and 
St. Paul Aurelian, and possibly Gildas and St. David. 
Of these Gildas claims attention because, in his work 
De Excidio, written about the year 540, he not only gives 
an account of the devastation of Britain by the Saxons 
and of the British emigration, but also, with a vehemence 
and an invective which reminds one of the darkest pages 
of Old Testament prophecy, denounces the profligacy of 

1 L’ Emigration Bretonne, p. 139. 


x INTRODUCTION 


the rulers of his own day, sparing neither king nor 
bishop, neither priest nor layman, but exposing, without 
the slightest reservation or distinction, the sins of all 
alike. It is hardly true to say that he confines his 
vituperation to the civil rulers and the secular clergy; 
for, having dealt with the former, he says he would 
willingly bring his remarks to an end “ did he not behold 
such great masses of evil deeds done against God by 
bishops or other priests or clerks, yea, some of our 
own order.” 1 Gildas has been styled the Jeremiah of 
Britain and his flamboyant language has been ridiculed. 
But it should be remembered that it is to him that we 
owe practically all that we know of Britain during the 
fifth and sixth centuries, Samson’s biographer having 
lived a generation later. Both are agreed that the 
Church had become worldly without becoming wise. 
Simony, avarice, excess—these are the prevailing vices. 
The works of the flesh are manifest. In these respects 
Britain differed little from Gaul. St. Jerome, who died 
in 420, Salvianus, who lived a little later, and Gregory 
of Tours (540-595) have given us a picture of the 
manners of their contemporaries which fills us with 
shame. Drunkenness was so general that it was hardly 
regarded as a vice. In the Life of St. Samson, Piro’s un- 
timely end? is even less instructive than a short sentence 
in the chapter devoted to an eulogy of the saint’s virtues, 
a sentence which, if it occurred in the biography of a 
modern bishop, would be read with indignant protest— 
Nunquam aliquis vidit eum ebrium.? St. Samson’s 
biographer appears to have considered it a matter for 
amazement that even a saint could always keep sober. 


1 Chap. LXV. 2 Chap. XXXVI. 3 Chap. XY. 

* In the Penitential attributed to Gildas there is a monastic 
rule which enjoins, Si quis autem ebrietatis causa psalleve non 
potest stupens e linguis cena privatuy! Waddan and Stubbs, 
Councils, I, 114. 


INTRODUCTION xi 


The precise relation between the secular clergy and the 
monks is a problem which is not solved in the work before 
us. In the sixth chapter the saint’s father is made to 
exhibit strong disapproval of his son’s becoming a clerk 
on the ground that the office was unworthy of his exalted 
birth, and in the sixtieth chapter there is a reference to 
depraved priests. Apart from these references, which 
may or may not relate to the secular clergy, there is 
nothing to show that there was such a body in existence. 
The inference to be drawn is that regulars and seculars 
were practically independent of each other. 

The reader may find it convenient to have a brief sketch 
of St. Samson’s career, gathered from the Life, for the 
purpose of reference. His birthplace is not given. 
Amon, his father, was of Dyfed, and Anna, his mother, 
of the neighbouring province of Gwent in South Wales. 
The date of his birth has been inferred from data supplied 
by the Life.t St. Samson was ordained bishop (1) on the 
Feast of the Chair of St. Peter (February 22), (2) on a 
Sunday, (3) at the beginning of Lent. Making allowance 
for the British method of computing time, we get the 
year 521 as the probable year of his consecration. 
Assuming that he was thirty-five years of age when that 
event took place, he would be born in the year 486. 
When he was five years of age he was taken by his parents 
to the school of St. Iltut at Llantwit near Cowbridge, 
and while there was ordained deacon? and _ priest.® 
Thence, in response to a heavenly call, he went to the 
monastery of Piro, and while there, somewhat reluc- 
tantly, paid a visit to his parents, as the result of which 


1 Life of St. Samson, Chaps. XIII, XXXIII and XLII. Cf. 
Duchesne, Christian Worship (S.P.C.K.), p. 359. 
* Chap. XIII. The site of St. Iltut’s monastery has been 
admirably described by E. J. Newell, Ancient British Church, 
Pp. II5 e¢ seq. 
3 Chap. XV. 


Xli INTRODUCTION 


the entire family (with the exception of his young sister), 
together with his uncle and his family, devoted them- 
selves to the religious life. Returning together to Piro’s 
monastery they had an interview with Bishop Dubricius, 
who had ordained Samson. Soon afterwards, on the 
death of Piro, he became abbat. During his abbatiate 
he paid a visit to Ireland and, after his return, sent his 
uncle Umbraphel to that country to take charge of a 
monastery which had been given him. While in retreat 
with his father and two others, near the banks of the 
Severn, he was summoned to a synod and ordained 
bishop. Then, apparently, for the first time, he found 
himself free to act on his own initiative. Bidding fare- 
well to the monastery where he had succeeded Piro, 
he sailed to Cornwall. Landing near Egloshayle he 
directed his course to St. Kew (Docco),1 where he was 
welcomed by Winniau (Juniavus). Thence traversing 
the district of Trigg, in a southerly direction, he came 
to a port which is, without doubt, that of Fowey,? whence 
he embarked for Brittany. There he founded the 
monastery of Dol: there he died and was buried. Such 
in briefest outline is the story of St. Samson. 

The reader will necessarily expect something to be 
said concerning the miracles which St. Samson is alleged 
to have performed. However difficult it may be for the 
modern mind to grasp the fact, there can be no question 
that the saint’s biographer accepted the miracles as 
authentic. Christian and pagan alike, in the sixth 
century, believed in magic and miracle. St. Iltut in the 


1 St. Kew appears as Landoho in King Edgar’s charter (958- 
975), as Tohou in 1121, and in the Episcopal Registers of the 
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries as Landoho, Lanho and 
Lanow. 

* William of Worcester (1478) calls attention to the fact that 
Fowey is opposite Brittany. Two miles from Fowey is the parish 
of St. Samson. 


INTRODUCTION xii. 


Life 1 is described as being by birth a most wise magician. 
The Church was not slow to use whatever gifts a man 
possessed in her service. She found warrant for her belief 
in the efficacy of faith, prayer and fasting in the New 
Testament.? Nothing is impossible with God. Whether 
we accept or reject the miracles of St. Samson, we have 
no right to blame his biographer for believing in and 
recording them. As Abbé Duine has most truly 
observed, ‘‘ We must not reproach anyone for having 
had the mentality of his own times.’ * The fact that the 
writer of the Life shared the temper and habit of mind 
of the age in which he lived is no argument against the 
historicity of his work. Rather it is an argument in its 
favour. If it be objected that the lives of many saints 
of a subsequent date are notoriously untrustworthy in 
respect of historical detail, it will be sufficient to remark 
that the Life of St. Samson actually furnished the 
mould into which many of them were cast. Not only 
did the successors of our anonymous writer seek to rival 
him in the number and extent of the miracles they related, 
but, just as he borrowed words, expressions and phrases 
from St. Gregory the Great and others, so they borrowed 
in like manner from him.4 We must distinguish between 
the mould and the metal, base or otherwise, which derives 
its impress from it. 

It would be indeed strange if at a time like this, when 
every particle of historical evidence is being subjected 
to the most searching criticism, the Life of St. Samson 
should escape. We are therefore not surprised to find 
that a diligent and resourceful writer, one indeed to whom 
all students are under a great obligation for having 

1 Chapter VII. 2 St. Matt. xvii, 20, 21; St. Mark ix, 29. 

’ Duine, Annales de Bretagne (April 1913), p. 341. 

* See, for example, Chapter XXIV, “I have left Egypt,” and 


compare with it the Life of St. Winwaloe, edited by R. Latouche, 
p. 102, 


X1V INTRODUCTION 


provided them with a useful text of the work, has gone 
so far as to charge our author with untruthfulness and 
to declare his work spurious And inasmuch as Gregory 
of Tours and our author are the chief sources of the 
evidence for the settlement of the Britons in Armorica, 
and for the creation of the monastery bishoprics in that 
country, his judgment could not be allowed to pass 
unchallenged. M. Fawtier has been answered by the 
Abbé Duine and Professor Loth. It is a question of 
internal evidence involving scholarship and an intimate 
knowledge of language and religious literature. Here 
it must suffice to give, in brief, one or two of the points 
raised and their answers, leaving the reader to consult 
the bibliography ! for a further treatment of the subject. 

Our author states that the sources of his information 
are a life of the saint written by the deacon Henoc, 
nephew of St. Samson, and handed down to his nephew, 
an old man of eighty years; also various particulars 
communicated to him orally by the same old man and 
by the monks of Llantwit. The critic inquires: Why 
does our author, who professes to know the name of 
Samson’s nephew, whom he styles Henoc, not give us 
also the old man’s name? The answer is: The name of 
the former is important, he was a writer; if our author 
had been an inventor he would have found it just as easy 
to invent a name for the old man as to invent one for his 
uncle. Again: Why does our author have recourse to 
Litanies for the names of the saint’s parents? The 
answer is: He has not recourse to Litanies at all: he 
merely adds an interesting bit of information, namely, 
that at the reading of the diptychs at Mass he himself 
has heard their names read out along with those of 
others. But why does our author not tell us something 
of the saint’s life at Dol? He does tell us something, 

1 See p. xiii, 


INTRODUCTION XV 


and that of very great interest—the story of Judual, 
involving negotiations with and a visit to Hiltbert 
(Childebert). Yet he can tell us little or nothing of the 
miracles performed by the saint in Brittany? That is 
because he knew nothing of them and was too honest to 
invent any. Still he was ignorant of the day of the saint’s 
death? The statement is absurd, because at the time 
when it is claimed that he wrote, the Hieronymian 
martyrology which mentions St. Samson was already in 
existence. Nevertheless, admitting this to be true, 
how comes it that in this martyrology St. Samson is 
described not as bishop but as abbat? In answer to 
this objection it would suffice to say that there is nothing 
remarkable in this: an abbat-bishop was just as likely 
to bear one title as the other in a cartulary : in this case 
the entry is Dolo monasterio depositio S. Samson (ts) 
A bbatis, and the title of the Saint is governed by the word 
monastery. 

This brings us to the crucial question of monastery 
bishoprics, concerning which much has been written. 
M. Fawtier states that abbat-bishops existed in Ireland 
but not in Gaul. That by Gaul he intends to include 
Brittany seems evident from a footnote, in which he 
commits a further imprudence by denying the existence 
of abbat-bishops in Wales and apparently in Cornwall. 
It should be explained that by an abbat-bishop is meant 
a bishop whose see is placed in the monastery of which 
he is also abbat, and whose episcopal jurisdiction is 
conterminous with the sphere of his monks’ labours. 
Such jurisdiction doubtless in some cases extended over 
a considerable tract of country in the vicinity of the 
monastery. In Cornwall the existence of monastery 


1 Is it possible that in the episode of Morinus the deacon 
(II, 7) major administratio inclitissima means a council or chapter 
dealing with the affairs not of the monastery only, but also of 
its dependencies ? 


XV1 INTRODUCTION 


bishoprics has been investigated. It is a matter of com- 
paratively small importance whether Dinurin is identified 
with Gerrans or with St. Germans. One thing is quite 
certain, namely, that it was a monastery and that 
Kenstec was its abbat-bishop. In his letter to Arch- 
bishop Ceolnoth, 833-870, Kenstec describes himself as 
Ego Kenstec ... (ad) episcopalem sedem in gente 
Cornubia in monasterio quod lingua Brettonum appel- 
latur Dinuurin electus. In Wales it is difficult to avoid 
the same conclusion. Professor Loth, speaking of the 
Welsh bishoprics, says, “‘ The seat of these bishops has 
been always at first in a monastery, and it isthe monastery 
which constituted the chief religious centre of the 
diocese.’ 2. In Ireland and the Irish missions there was 
the same system and a perverse development of it 
which tended to destroy the governmental prerogative 
of the bishop altogether. The abbat became supreme 
and the bishop in some cases a mere conduit of the grace 
of Holy Orders. There are, however, no traces of this 
development in Wales, Brittany and Cornwall. There 
was nevertheless a very distinct tendency throughout 
Celtic Christendom to ignore the important principle of 
the Catholic Church, that a bishop should have not only 
succession from the Apostles, but also be in a right 
relation both to the local Church of which he claimed to 
be head and to the whole Church? In Celtic Chris- 
tianity we see, therefore, the doctrine of the sacramental 
transmission of the grace of Holy Orders carried to its 
extreme limit. 

To this spirit of independence must be ascribed the 
rejection by the British clergy of the overtures of St. 
Augustine of Canterbury. Owing to the Saxon invasion, 

1 T. Taylor, The Celtic Christianity of Cornwall. 


* La Vie de S. Samson de Dol, p. 13. 
§ The Church and the Ministry, ed. Dr. Swete, p. 107. 


INTRODUCTION XVii 


the isolation of the British Church had been inevitable 
and it was confirmed by racial antagonism. Brittany 
owed its religion no less than its language to Britain. 
The Welsh missions of Paul Aurelian, Lunaire, Samson, 
Magloire, Mewan and Malo, and that of Tutwal of 
British Dumnonia, served to stereotype the original 
character of its ecclesiastical polity and of its clergy. 
It would have been strange if the Church of Brittany 
had not been fashioned according to a monastic type 
and if the rulers of it had not been abbat-bishops. 
Destructive criticism has not discredited the Life of 
St. Samson: constructive criticism has strengthened its 
claim to be authentic. To this latter work the Abbé 
Duine has brought his immense stores of learning and 
Professor Loth his unrivalled knowledge of the Celtic 
language and literature. The Abbé Duine has carefully 
sifted the Life for traces of foreign material in its con- 
struction, and has shown that of the thirty words, 
phrases and allusions borrowed from religious writers, 
nine are from St. Gregory the Great, eight from Sulpicius 
Severus, four from St. Jerome, three from Rufinus, and 
two each from Fortunatus, Cassian and Evagrius. The 
simile in the first chapter of the second part, in which 
our author likens himself with limited intelligence to a 
little barque traversing a vast and very deep sea, appears 
to be common to Cassian, Fortunatus and Gildas. 
‘“ Bien malin,” says Abbé Duine, “ qui nous divait quel 
rhéteur lanca le premer ce bateau-la?’’ As the result of 
his survey he has arrived at two definite conclusions : 
firstly, that our author supplies us with no trace of any 
literary composition subsequent to the end of the sixth 
century; secondly, that he knows the fame of St. Martin 
but omits even to mention his name. The second of 
these conclusions probably indicates a fixed determina- 


tion on the part of our author not to acknowledge any 
B 


XViii INTRODUCTION 


obligation whatsoever to Tours, which claimed jurisdic- 
tion over the Breton Church: the first is a convincing 
argument in favour of the date 610-615 for the com- 
position of the work. 

Our author’s mind is saturated with the Holy Scripture 
to a much greater extent than can be gathered froma 
translation, however literal. He quotes twelve passages 
from the Bible but not from the Vulgate version. As 
M. Berger has observed, the Vulgate did not commend 
itself to Gaul for several centuries. From the sixth to 
the eighth it made progress slowly but surely in the 
British Isles. The Breton Church evidently did not use 
it in the days of St. Samson’s biographer at the beginning 
of the seventh century. As M. Duine has shown, it is 
not unlikely that the version used by him differed even 
more widely from the Vulgate than appears from the 
most ancient extant manuscripts of the Life, which are 
not older than the eleventh century. 

A very ingenious solution has been formed of the 
origin of the word theomacha, which we have translated 
sorceress.' It is clearly the Latin equivalent of Oeopayos. 
M. Duine supposes that in the Acts,? where the Vulgate 
translates pujmrore kat @eoudyo. by ne forte et Deo 
vepugnare imvenamim, the old Breton version read 
ne forte theomachi. adversus Deum pugnantes invemamini, 
and that our author got the word from it. St. Patrick 
(389-461) did not use the Vulgate of the Old Testament, 
but there are indications of his use of that version of the 
New. 

The Church has always required from those who have 
sought to be admitted to Holy Orders some evidence of 
vocation and some outward token indicative of fitness. 
In primitive times great importance was attached to the 
latter irrespective of intellectual and moral qualification 

1 See Chapter XXVI. 2 Chap. V, 39. 


INTRODUCTION xix 


and soundness in the faith. The prophecies which 
pointed to Timothy ! were probably outward tokens, such 
as St. Paul and others had observed, strengthened by a 
divine message given through them. These and the 
opening words of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians find 
an echo in the story of St. Samson. Throughout the 
Life our biographer sets himself to show that the saint 
was, as regards vocation and ministry, not merely a 
natural product of the Christianity of his own day but . 
something more excellent. His birth, like that of the 
Baptist, was heralded by angelic prophecy: his admis- 
sion to all three orders was signalled by the presence of a 
dove which hovered above him. The vision of the three 
heavenly bishops consecrating him was so convincing 
that he did not doubt that he was thereby already made 
a bishop, although as yet he had not received the outward 
and visible rite. He was approved by signs and wonders. 
It was for the confirmation of the faith of others that 
Dubricius and his brother bishops resolved that he must 
fulfil all righteousness and submit to receive consecra- 
tion in the usual way. Indeed, so far from favouring what 
has been called a charismatic ministry, the Life of St. 
Samson witnesses to the sense of order and discipline 
which characterised the saint and his environment. It 
was only with Eltut’s permission that he went to heal 
the brother bitten by a viper. It was Eltut who pro- 
cured his ordination to the diaconate and to the priest- 
hood. His departure from Eltut’s monastery was by 
mutual agreement. At Piro’s bidding he visited his 
father. On Piro’s death he was chosen abbat. With the 
bishop’s sanction he was allowed to sail for Ireland. He 
was summoned to the Synod, and by the elders (majores) 
appointed abbat of a monastery said to have been 
founded by St. German. At a congregation of the 


1 1 Tim. i, 18: card tas mpoayotoas er! oe mpopyrtetas. 


XxX INTRODUCTION 


bishop’s counsellors it was unanimously resolved that he 
should be made a bishop. It was only when he had been 
admitted to the episcopate that he appears to have 
exercised a personal predilection for a special sphere of 
work, if indeed his departure from Wales can be so 
regarded. It is not in the least improbable that it was in 
response to an invitation that he crossed the Severn 

and the Channel for the purpose of confirming the 
- Churches of Cornwall and Brittany. Unfortunately our 
author is silent upon this point. 

(1) With regard to Samson’s ordination to the diacon- 
ate, the reader will notice that the brothers in the first 
place acclaim him. This represents the election of the 
candidate, which was characteristic of early ordinations 
both to the diaconate and the episcopate.? In the Gal- 
lican ordinal the president of the bishops in presenting 
the candidate asks the congregation to acclaim him. If 
he be a bishop they are to be accordant in their praises 
and to cry aloud and say he is worthy: if he be a priest 
they are with a common voice to declare their choice : 
if he be a deacon they are to assent with their voices. 
In every case, if the selection of the candidate is 
approved, they are to express their approval by Dignus 
est.8 

(2) Besides acclaiming Samson, at his first ordination, 
we are told that the brothers bent for pardon. This 
evidently refers to the Litany. In the Roman Sacra- 
mentaries the Litany was a preliminary to the ordination 
of bishops, priests and deacons. 

(3) The Bishop laid his hands upon him. 

(4) Moreover, we read that a deacon sang the Gospel 


1 See Chap. XIII of the Life: consentientibus et congaudentibus 
omnibus fratribus. 

2 See Dr. Frere, Early Forms of Ordination, in Dr. Swete’s 
History of the Church and Ministry. 

§ Duchesne, Christian Worship, pp. 369-373. 


INTRODUCTION xxi 


and a prayer and also held the chalice at the Communion. 
St. Jerome (420) speaks of the deacon as the reader of 
the Gospel, and from that time this became his special 
privilege. Moreover, from the days of Justin Martyr 
he has administered the chalice at Communion. It is 
not clear what prayer our author here refers to. In the 
Gallican rite it was the deacon’s duty to bid the kiss of 
peace, which in that and other cognate rites preceded the 
Eucharistic prayer and was itself accompanied by a -: 
prayer. It may have been, therefore, the invitation, 
Habete osculum dilectionis et pacis ut apti sitis sacrosanctis 
mysterits Dei,? or similar words, but in that case the word 
precem used by our author would have to be taken in 
the sense of a request addressed to the people. Or, it 
may be that the deacon was allowed to sing the prayer 
which followed. At Rome the deacon sang the Gradual, 
but this could hardly ‘be described as a prayer. 

No particulars are furnished of the saint’s ordination 
to the priesthood save that the wonted dove was observed 
to be present. This incident reminds us of a similar 
dove which alighted on the head of Fabian in 250%: both 
were doubtless regarded as symbolical of the Holy Spirit. 

At St. Samson’s consecration several additional par- 
ticulars are to be noted. In the dream preparatory to it 
the saint sees three bishops, St. Peter, St. James the 
Lord’s brother, and St. John the Evangelist, ordain him 
bishop. The selection is significant. The saint is to 
derive his episcopal descent from the founders of the 
three primatial sees of the infant Church, Rome, Jeru- 
salem and Ephesus. The three bishops wear golden 
crowns (diademata), the insignia of the Celtic bishop.‘ 


1 Fortescue, The Mass, pp. 280-281. 

Ss 20d, i372. These Ribas are from the Mozarabic Liturgy. 
. Eusebius, RE AVi, 20(3) 

* Warren, Liturgy and Titioal of the Celtic Church, pp. 119-120. 


Xxii INTRODUCTION 


They are clothed in gorgeous apparel of pure silk, while 
he himself is vested in white, a sign that due regard was 
paid to the higher rank in the matter of externals. If, 
as M. Duine shrewdly conjectures, the true reading in 
the passage we have translated “until he was quite 
through the ceremony ” ! is usquequo perunctus perfecte 
est instead of perfunctus, we have an interesting example 
of the use of the Gallican ordinal and of the anointing 
of the hands. As Mgr. Duchesne has pointed out,? the 
anointing of bishops and also of priests was Gallican in 
origin and was subsequently introduced into the Roman 
ordinal. 

The circumstances under which the saint’s father 
confessed a principal mortal sin (capitale crimen) in the 
presence of the saint, whom he recognised as the 
succourer of his body and mind, his wife also and a 
deacon being present, are very suggestive as reminding 
us of the soul-friend (anamchara) of the Irish penitential 
system and of that of more primitive times.2 Amon’s 
sin—whatever it may have been—was known only to 
himself and to God. It had not, therefore, been 
followed by excommunication. Nevertheless he made 
a semi-public confession of it, and by way of penance 
voluntarily undertook a vow of perpetual asceticism, 
which carried with it the renunciation of marital relation- 
ship and earthly possessions. In short he became a 
monk. His conduct accords in every particular with 
what we know of the Church’s discipline as it was 
administered and accepted in the fifth century.4 No 
mention is made of absolution, but it is noteworthy that 
Amon and his family, together with Umbraphel and his 


1 Chap. XLIV. 

* Christian Worship, p. 372, 0. : 

* Warren, op. cit., p. 147 et seq. Mrs. J. Concannon’s Life 
St. Columban, p. 147 et seq. 

* Duchesne, Christian Worship, PP. 435-436. 


INTRODUCTION XX 


family, who had also in like manner renounced the 
world, accompanied the saint on his return to Dubricius, 
at that time keeping Lent in the monastery. The 
bishop welcomed them courteously and lovingly afforded 
consolation to the two brothers, from which it may 
perhaps be inferred that, at his hands, they received 
formal reconciliation and recognition on the following 
Maundy Thursday.? 

The theft of the crosier and the fire at Dol after St. 
Samson’s death call attention to the saint’s use of two 
pastoral staves, one of them embellished with gold, 
silver and precious stones, apparently for use on great 
occasions, and the other a walking staff. The use of the 
cambuta by Irish bishops and the craftsmen’s skill in 
adorning it appear at a very early date.2, At Rome the 
crosier was unknown. As Mgr. Duchesne remarks: 
“When the episcopal crosier, with its very natural 
symbolism, had been everywhere adopted, it was a 
cause of surprise that the Pope, the shepherd of 
shepherds, was the only one not to make habitual use 
of the pastoral staff.’’ % 


BRITTANY 


It may be useful to give a brief sketch of the country 
to which St. Samson directed his steps after his con- 
secration as bishop. The poverty of its literary remains 
makes this a matter of considerable difficulty. Until 
the beginning of the fifth century the history of the 
Armorican peninsula is bound up with that of the 


1 Duchesne, op. cit., p. 439. 2 Warren, op. cit., p. I15. 

3 It is curious that whereas the Irish word for priest is sagari 
(sacerdos) and the Welsh word ofeiviad (from offerve) and the 
Cornish word offeviat, the Breton word is belek, Armorican baclec, 
which Professor Loth derives from baclac, one who carries a 
staff. L’Emigration Bretonne, p. 91. 


XXiV INTRODUCTION 


Tractus Armoricanus. In order to determine, there- 
fore, the ecclesiastical organisation as it existed before 
the ninth century, it has been proposed! to identify 
and locate the provinces and dioceses of Armorica by 
means of the Notitia dignitatum, a document compiled 
at the beginning of the fourth century. This document 
gives the divisions and subdivisions of the Roman 
Empire for the purposes of civil and military adminis- 
tration. Generally speaking, the State religion of 
pagan Rome was regulated by Augustus on the lines of 
political convenience, and its hierarchy distributed and 
assigned rank in conformity with the size and importance 
of the town or province. When Christianity was 
officially recognised by Constantine in 323 and estab- 
lished as the State religion in 392, the same course seems 
to have been followed. The great towns or provinces 
which had a flamen, or arch-priest, were those which 
subsequently became the provinces of archbishops, and 
the civitates the dioceses of bishops. By applying this 
principle it was thought by modern students that the 
Notitia would afford a sure means of identifying the 
ancient Gallo-Roman bishoprics of Armorica. But it 
has been shown that many civitates never became 
bishoprics,? and therefore the principle must be accepted 
with caution. The Nofitza informs us that the Tractus 
Armoricanus et Nervicanus consisted of five provinces, 
and that of those five provinces it was the Provincia 
Lugdunensis Tertia which embraced the nine civitates 
of North-western Gaul, including the Armorican penin- 
sula. The nine civitates were the metropolis civitas 
Turonorum and the eight civitates of the Cenomanni, 
Redones, Andecavi, Namnetes, Curiosolite, Veneti, 
Ossismi and Diablintes. If the above principle uni- 


1 By Longnon (Cités gallo-romaines de Bretagne) and others. 
2 Loth, L’Emigvation Bretonne, pp. 49, 50. 


INTRODUCTION XXV 


versally held good there ought to be nine bishoprics 
corresponding to the several civitates. The territory 
of the Turoni (Tours), Cenomanni (Le Mans), Andecavi 
(Angers) lay outside the peninsula; that of the Redones,. 
Namnetes and Veneti is rightly identified with Rennes, 
Nantes and Vannes. Jublains indicates the territory of 
the Diablintes, who were therefore partially, if not wholly, 
outside the peninsula. There remain the Curiosolite, 
whose situation is revealed in the name of the town of 
Corseult ! near Dinan, and the Ossismi, who occupied 
the westernmost portion of the peninsula.? Julius 
Cesar ® describes the territory of the Redones as 
maritime. It is therefore not improbable that they 
occupied, not only the wide stretch of country bounded 
on the south by the Namnetes, on the west by the 
Curiosolitee and Veneti, and on the east by the Andecavi 
and Diablintes, but also the narrow neck of land which 
lies between the Couesnon and the Rance. 

There is also a little uncertainty respecting the territory 
of the Curiosolite. For Curiosolitae some manuscripts 
of the Notitia read Corisopites. Moreover, since the 
middle of the ninth century the bishops of Quimper have 
styled themselves Corisopitensis. The explanation may 
be that a branch of the Curiosolite settled on the sea- 
board between the Elorn and the Elle. 

All attempts made by modern writers to provide 
bishops for the Curiosolite and Ossismi have been in 
vain. The only bishoprics in Armorica when the tide 
of emigration set in from Britain were those of Nantes, 
founded some time before 374, Rennes founded in 461, 
and Vannes founded in 465. There is good reason to 


* Abundant evidence of this town’s importance in Gallo- 
Roman times has been furnished by antiquarian research. 

* Pomponius Mela, describing the island of Sena (hodie, Sein), 
says that it lies Ossismiacis adversa littovibus, 

3 De Bello Gallico, Il, c. 34. 


XXVi INTRODUCTION 


believe that the inhabitants of the more remote civitates 
were chiefly pagan. The discovery, however, of Roman 
remains—roads, milestones, coins and ruins—afford 
evidence of a considerable population which had prob- 
ably dwindled and deteriorated soon after, if not before, 
the Roman legions were withdrawn. 

The exodus from Britain to Armorica commenced 
during the first half of the fifth century and continued 
for upwards of a century and a half. The emigrants 
were mainly composed of Dumnonii from what is now 
known as Cornwall, Devon and Somerset, and Cornovii 
from the country which lies between the mouth of the 
Severn and the Dee. 

The transformation of Armorica, astonishing in its 
rapidity and completeness, cannot be better described 
than in the words of one who has made the subject a 
life study: —“‘In the middle of the sixth century, 
name, language, customs—everything is changed. The 
country is called Brittany : a Celtic language is heard in 
it. It is not a slow infiltration of strangers: it is an 
inundation. In the fifth century there is no question of 
Bretons: in the middle of the sixth they are masters 
of the larger portion of the peninsula. There are no 
longer Curiosolitz or Ossismi. In the north, from the 
Couesnon as far as the Elorn, are Dumnonian Bretons. 
South of the Dumnonians as far as the Ellé, and thence 
following the course of the hills to the centre of the 
peninsula, are Cornovian Bretons. East of the Cornovii 
on the left bank of the Ellé a war-like population, having 
no other name than that of Bretons, whose waves 
already beat against the town of Vannes, whose vanguard 
has crossed the Vilaine and spread itself along the sea- 
board as far as the Loire and firmly planted itself in the 
country of Guérande, will give to the country of Vannes. 

1 Loth, L’ Emigration Bretonne, p. 93. 


XXVli 


INTRODUCTION 





Ainley) yy 
ey VOOR 


Cal 





INTRODUCTION 


XXV11 


Altyli2) ‘YO 
ANVLIIUG 


Loyd B 


O Osta toss § 





INTRODUCTION XXIX 


the name of their most illustrious leader, the name of 
Bro Waroch, the country of Waroch. This new popula- 
tion seems to breathe only war and plunder. The 
towns have disappeared. The chiefs are seen in the 
thick forest, from which at every moment they spring 
forth to make attacks on the territory of the Namnites 
and the Redones. The Bretons of Waroch engage the 
Franks in a desperate struggle which will continue with 
alternating success and failure until the ninth century, 
and will end in decisive victory for the Bretons under 
Nominoé.”’ 

The invaders brought with them, not only their 
language and traditions, but also a form of Christianity 
which was peculiarly their own. In the matter of 
doctrine there was no difference from that of the rest of 
Christendom; but the spread of monasticism among the 
Celts had been rapid, and the influence which it had 
exerted was shown in the intensely monastic character 
of the episcopate. A Celtic bishop was a monk whose 
seat was in the monastery, over which he ruled as abbat, 
and the limits of his episcopal jurisdiction co-extensive 
with the sphere of influence of the monastery. The 
clergy who accompanied or followed the successive bands 
of emigrants were probably all under vows. 

The founders of the Breton bishoprics were all monks 
of British origin. St. Samson of Demetia left Cornwall 
soon after his consecration, which took place in or about 
the year 521. He founded the monastery bishopric of 
Dol. His fellow-student at Llantwit, Pol Aurelian, a 
native of South Wales, founded a similar bishopric at 
Léon in 530; St. Tutwall, of British Dumnonia, that of 
Tréguier; St. Brieuc, of Cardigan, that of St. Brieuc, 
and St. Corentin, the son of a British emigrant, that of 
Quimper, in the sixth century; and St. Malo of Gwent 
hat of St. Malo at Aleth in the seventh century. 


XXX INTRODUCTION 


No permission was apparently sought or obtained from 
the Archbishop of Tours, within whose province, geo- 
graphically at least, they were situated, for the erection 
of these monastic bishoprics. The British bishops and 
priests had come to minister to the spiritual needs of 
their compatriots and paid little heed to the joints and 
bands by means of which the Church as a whole was 
co-ordinated and held together. Before they left Britain 
the gulf which separated regulars and seculars had been 
widening. Gildas has not a good word to say of the 
latter. The Breton schism was an inevitable result, 
even if the relations between the settlers and the Gallo- 
Roman population had been amicable. The great 
Gallo-Roman monastery of Redon was never episcopal 
in character: the Celtic monasteries were. Political 
turmoil and Breton aggressiveness only served to 
stereotype the plan and purpose of the missionaries. It 
is true that in 461 Mansuetus episcopus Britannorum— 
probably an Irish emigrant—attended the Council held 
at Tours, and that St. Samson himself attended a similar 
one held at Paris, and signed his name among the 
bishops, between 556 and 573. Nevertheless the Breton 
Church was practically independent from the sixth until 
the ninth century. 

The course of events is interesting because it throws 
light on the similar problem which had to be faced by the 
Mother Church in Wales and Cornwall after the arrival 
of St. Augustine in the year 597. 

From time to time the Archbishop of Tours attempted 
to exercise jurisdiction over the Breton Church. In the 
early years of the sixth century he issued a monition to 
two Breton priests through the Bishop of Rennes. In 567 
he commanded the Breton Church not to ordain bishops 
without his consent; but in this case the command 
probably had regard to Rennes, Vannes and Nantes. 


INTRODUCTION XXX1 


Gregory of Tours ignored the Breton Church alto- 
gether and regarded the Bretons as little better than 
savages. From his day until the ninth century no 
attempt was made to exercise provincial discipline. The 
provincial authority ceased to function. In the mean- 
time the Breton Church developed her organisation. 
Doi naturally took precedence as one of the earliest, 
perhaps the earliest in point of date, and admittedly 
the most venerable by reason of the superior holiness of 
its founder, the cult of whom was already beginning to 
shine forth in the sixth century among many both 
Bretons and Romans.! The primacy of the Bishop of 
Dol was a natural result. Whether archiepiscopal 
claims were actually asserted is uncertain. The events 
which led to the freedom of Brittany under Nominoé 
brought into prominence the Celtic aspirations for 
ecclesiastical as well as national independence. Breton 
unity could only be secured by the recognition of a king 
on the one hand and of an archbishop on the other, both 
of whom must be free from the suspicion of Frankish 
influence. Nominoé solved the problem. He procured 
the sacring of himself as king at the hands of the Arch- 
bishop of Dol.2 This necessitated the deposition of 
four if not five bishops, who were unfavourable to his 
pretensions, on a charge of simony. The result was a 
violent and protracted controversy concerning the 
metropolitan rights of the Bishop of Dol. 

In 850 a Council, held at Paris, charged Nominoé 
with plundering, stealing and burning, and at the end 


* Life of St. Samson, Part II, chap. xi. By Romans the writer 
of the Vita means those who lived outside Brittany. 

* The authority for this statement is the Chronicle of Nantes, 
a document compiled in the middle of the eleventh century. 
The writer of it was a staunch advocate of Tours and may have 
ees the part which Nominoé played in ecclesiastical 
affairs, 


XXX INTRODUCTION 


of a letter of unadulterated abuse added: “ Thou wilt 
have to answer at God’s judgment seat and that soon. 
Thou art old, repent; or, assuredly, thou wilt go to 
hell.” 

Nine years later a Council held at Savonniéres called 
upon Festien, Archbishop of Dol, Wernarius of Rennes, 
Garurbrius of St. Brieuc or Tréguier, and King Salamon 
of Brittany to respect the metropolitan authority of 
Tours; and, in the following year, Pope Nicholas I wrote 
to Salamon declaring all the Breton bishops to be 
suffragans of Tours. The Pope’s letter necessarily 
invited a full and complete examination of all facts and 
circumstances connected with the Breton archbishopric. 
The appellate jurisdiction of the Roman bishop in the 
West had never been disputed. Appeals from provincial 
councils lay to the Roman court. 

In 865 the Pope, in answer to a letter from King 
Salamon requesting him to send the pallium to his 
brother and fellow-bishop Festien who presided over the 
Church of St. Samson,! replied that before bestowing so 
high a favour it would be necessary for the candidate to 
furnish him with the documents which had accompanied 
its bestowal upon Festien’s predecessors, also a pro- 
fession of faith and of submission to the chair of Peter. 
The documents were to be dispatched by an envoy 
selected from among Festien’s clergy. An envoy was 
sent but nothing came of the mission. 

Salamon repeated his request in the following year, 
and the Pope returned answer that the documents had 
not been furnished and requested the king to send them 
if he had any to send. Thereupon Festien, who had 
hitherto been silent, addressed Nicholas and received a 

1 Ut pallium fratri et coepiscopo nostro Festiniano qui ecclesia 


Samsonis preesse dinoscituy. The words are the Pope’s, though 
he may have been quoting from Salamon’s letter. 


INTRODUCTION XXxXill 


rebuke in which he was ordered to attach himself to 
Tours, his true metropolis. In his letter Festien had 
apparently informed the Holy Father that Restoals 4 
and a certain Juthmael had received the pallium. For 
in his reply the Pope states that he has consulted the 
history (gesta) of the Popes and can find no evidence of 
it. Nevertheless he is prepared to receive delegates 
from Tours and a statement of the grounds upon which 
Festien claims to exercise the power and to assume the 
title of archbishop. In 886 a Council held at Soissons 
dispatched a letter by the hands of Actard, Bishop of 
Nantes and an ardent supporter of Tours, in which they 
alleged that for the space of twenty years (!) the Breton 
bishops had neglected attendance at Tours and had 
had no Metropolitan to consecrate their bishops. They 
called attention to the fact that Salacon their true 
bishop was still living, and that their bishops owed their 
positions to the Duke of the Bretons, who in the matter 
had acted like a barbarian chieftain. 

Pope Nicholas died in the year 867 and his successor 
was an ardent friend of the Church of Tours. The 
Breton Church, however, did not abandon its claim. 
The style of archbishop continued to be used? by the 


1 Up to this point the negotiations were irreproachable. 
When, however, we find the eighth Archbishop of Canterbury, 
Bertoald, claimed by Festien as a predecessor we are led to 
suspect his bona fides, even if the entry in the Pontifical reads 
Bertoaldum Britannie archiepiscopum. M. Paul Fournier con- 
nects the author of this attempted imposition with the forger of 
the False Decretals (see Gougaud, Chrétientés, p. 133). 

2 The Chronicle of Nantes describes Wichoen and Guinguené 
as Archbishops of Dol. Under the name and style of Juthoven 
archiepiscopus, Wichoen attested a grant of patronage to 
Landevennec by Alain Barbetorte between 944 and 952. It is 
worthy of notice that after Alain’s death the grant was confirmed 
by Thibaud, Count of Blois, Joseph, Archbishop of Tours, and 
Foulque, Count of Anjou. Did Joseph confirm it as Metropolitan 
or as Bishop of Tours? A portion of the patronage was within 
the diocese of Tours. 

C 


XXXIV INTRODUCTION 


Bishops of Dol until 1075, when Juthael was expelled 
forsimony. Gregory VII, with a view to establish order 
and to give indisputable authority to his nominee, con- 
secrated Even archbishop and bestowed on him the 
pallium. Even was the first to receive this distinction. 
In 1093 Urban II, in 1109 Paschal, and in 1155 Alexander 
III granted the pallium to the Archbishop of Dol. It 
was not until 1199 that Innocent III pronounced a 
definitive sentence disallowing the archiepiscopal claims 
of the church of St. Samson. 

Brittany by the end of the tenth century had become 
a nation of considerable political importance. It was 
its misfortune to be situated between two more powerful 
nations, both of which coveted possession of its territory 
and in default of possession were anxious to use it as a 
cat’s-paw. In the political complications which ensued 
Dol was more than once the scene of action. In 1075 
William the Conqueror besieged Dol, which was success- 
fully held for forty days by Alain Fergent, son of Duke 
Hoel V of Brittany. On the approach of the French, 
King William withdrew. Ten years later Alain, who 
had now succeeded his father as duke, defended Dol a 
second time against William, and, on this occasion, so 
valiantly, that the Conqueror, despairing of success, 
made peace with Alain and gave him his daughter 
Constance in marriage. 

The marriage of Duke Conan III to Matilda, daughter 
of Henry I of England, and the betrothal of Constance, 
only daughter of Conan IV, to Geoffrey, third son of 
Henry II of England, after a disastrous war, secured the 
annexation of Brittany. Henry II maintained the 
archiepiscopal claims of Dol, exercising his right of 
patronage in favour of Norman ecclesiastics. He 
appointed Roland III archbishop, and his nominee was 
made a cardinal in 1184, the cathedral of St. Samson 


INTRODUCTION XXXV 


being arrayed in purple for the first and last time. 
Geoffrey, who had been made Duke of Brittany, died in 
1186, Roland III in 1187, and Henry II in 1189. 
Brittany was lost to England by the futile policy of 
King John. Pope Innocent III, influenced by political 
considerations, as we have said, finally decided the 
question of the archbishopric by an adverse sentence in 
1199. The bishopric survived until 1799, when it was 
suppressed. 

Dol Cathedral remains. It is an impressive old 
building of grey granite, the greater part of it of the 
thirteenth century. The parapets of the north side are 
battlemented, a feature not to be found elsewhere in the 
churches of France. The English character of the 
cathedral’s design is also noteworthy. The porch on 
the south side stands out from the main building and is 
beautifully decorated with bas-reliefs. In other respects, 
with the exception of the windows, the cathedral is 
severe in style, with little ornament. Inside, the 
triforium and clerestory are lofty and plain. The chancel 
is more ornate, and a magnificent window at the east 
end retains its lovely blue thirteenth-century glass. 
Beneath, in the Lady Chapel, the glass is golden. 
Scenes from the life of St. Samson are among the subjects 
treated in the medallions. The church is dedicated to 
St. Magloire and St. Samson. In a double sense St. 
Magloire and St. Samson were cousins-german, two 
brothers having married two sisters. Both were 
disciples of St. Iltut, and both had a share in the founding 
of the monastery of Dol. Magloire succeeded Samson 
in the bishopric, from which he retired for the sake of 
solitude. Budoc, who succeeded Magloire as bishop, 
wished to keep him in the neighbourhood, but being 
importuned by a count whom he had cured of leprosy 
Magloire sailed over to Jersey, where he built a monastery 


XXXVi INTRODUCTION 


for sixty-two religious, and there he remained until his 
death. 

The Book of Llandaff informs us that during his 
residence at Dol, St. Samson received a visit from St. 
Teilo and welcomed him with joy, both having been 
born in the same district and being men who spoke the 
same tongue.+ 

In 1859, when the chapel of St. Samson underwent 
repair, the parish priest, M. Chevrier, caused the Mero- 
vingian sarcophagus, supposed to be that of St. Samson, 
to be removed to the garden of the presbytery in order 
to put an end to superstitious practices connected with 
it. It remains there and serves as a wash-house to the 
rectory household.? 

Besides the cathedral some of the houses at Dol, now 
a small town of some 4000 inhabitants, afford evidence of 
fourteenth and fifteenth century work, and are so con- 
structed as to provide arcades by the projection of their 
upper storeys. 

The cult of St. Samson became general in Celtic 
countries soon after the saint’s death, and from Britain 
no less than from Brittany numerous pilgrimages were 
made to his sarcophagus at Dol. His fame spread to 
Switzerland and Italy; the monastery of Urano in 
Ravenna possessed relics of him. He was revered by 
our Anglo-Saxon kings. Edward the Elder became a 
member of the Confraternity of St. Samson, and his son 
Athelstan acquired by purchase relics of Breton saints,’ 
and among them an arm of St. Samson and his cross.4 
These were carried in procession before Athelstan’s 


1 Occurrit ei cum gaudio nam de una regione procreati 
fuerunt et unius lingue viri. 

* Abbé Duine, Saints de Domnonée, pp. 11, 12. 

® William of Malmesbury, De Gestis Regum, c. vi. 

* Abbé Duine, Le Schisme Breton, p. 15. 


INTRODUCTION XXXVii 


body on the day of his burial. Churches were built in 
his honour both in Cornwall and in Brittany. 

The cult of saints and veneration of relics is still a 
marked feature of the religious life of Brittany. Pardons 
and pilgrimages furnish frequent opportunities for the 
purpose, and the religious plays which sometimes 
accompany them are often deeply impressive. From 
the first Christianity in all countries has made fruitful 
use of native religious sentiment and observance by 
adapting and consecrating them to a higher purpose. 
In no country in Europe has she drawn so freely from 
pre-Christian sources for the development and popular 
character of her worship as in Brittany. Legends con- 
nected with certain places, stones and events, ancient 
customs, have here, as in Cornwall, survived, interwoven 
with religion, some of them of pagan origin. The New 
Religion in Brittany took possession of legends and 
monuments and turned them to its own uses. It is 
possible, therefore, that in the Life of St. Samson we 
may detect traces of this economy, as we certainly do of 
autocthonous animism in the incident which it records 
of the unconverted natives of Trigg. A survival of this 
may be found in the cure of rheumatism attributed to 
the holed stone (mén-an-iol) of Bosullow Moor in West 
Cornwall. 

The folk-lore of Brittany is in extent paralleled by 
that of Cornwall. The Celt still keeps alive, by means 
of oral tradition, the lessons, warnings, wisdom and 
customs of his forefathers. In the Life of St. Samson it 
is possible that folk-lorists may be able to throw light 
upon the silver rods presented by the saint’s father by 
way of gratitude for the promise of ason. To them the 
whole story of the saint’s life will be full of suggestion, 


1 Compare, e.g., the stories founded on folk-lore by Anatole le 
Braz with Bottrell’s collection. 


XXXVili INTRODUCTION 


no less than to liturgiologists who wish to compare 
Celtic ritual with Roman. 


The reader of the Life will find many and various 
points of like interest in a work which, written at the 
beginning of the seventh century, in the style of its 
language and in the treatment of its subject reflects the 
religious temper of theage. Ifthe translator has insome 
measure caught the spirit of its author he may venture 
to hope that he will not altogether fail in communicating 
it to the reader. He gratefully acknowledges the 
kindness of his old friend and school-fellow, the Rev. 
F. W. Paul, M.A., in going through the translation, in 
correcting mistakes and offering valuable suggestions. 
No translation of the Vita Samsonis has hitherto 
appeared in English.t Some very useful notes have 
been published by the Abbé Duine, Professor Loth and 
M. Fawtier, of which advantage has been taken in the 
preparation of the present work, but. the translator has 
naturally followed his own judgment, and in some 
instances has felt compelled to reject the suggestions of 
those wiser than himself. 

The student who is led to consult the Latin text will 
realise the difficulty of reconciling the construction of 
the sentences and the use of moods, tenses and words with 
the rules of grammar and composition which he learnt at 
school. The anonymous author’s excessive use of the 
participle, the present participle for the past, and vice 
versa, his use of se for z//um, sibi for alli and suus for ejus, 
are perhaps the most noticeable examples.? His 


1 Or in any other modern language so far as the writer is 
aware. 

2 For a more detailed treatment of the language of the Vita 
the student is referred to L’Abbé Duine’s Questions d’Hagio- 
gvaphie, pp. 46-51. 


INTRODUCTION XXX1X 


flamboyant expressions of respect for Bishop Tiger- 
nomalus are distinctively Merovingian and a proof of the 
date of the work. The pretentious language, inflated 
style and involved sentences are his own, and however 
strongly they may be criticised or ridiculed, it cannot be 
denied that they nevertheless possess a certain charm. 
All whose delight is in whatsoever things are lovely and 
of good report—old and young, learned and unlearned 
alike—will be drawn to the old writer, who, throughout 
his narrative, at a time when manners were coarse and 
language equally unrestrained, never offends in the 
slightest degree. In the much-criticised sermon which 
here appears as the Second Book, however redundant 
and fantastic his modes of expression, he keeps one 
lesson steadily in view—a lesson as much needed now as 
when the sermon was composed—the lesson that the 
best way of honouring the saints is by imitating their 
virtues. 

The approximate date of the Life has been given as 
between 610 and 615. M. Fawtier, who, however, does 
not accept the anonymous writer’s statements respecting 
its authorship and provenance, has diligently examined 
the eight extant versions of it and has traced them all, 
with one exception, to that adopted by the Benedictines 
in the Acta Sanctorum Sancti Benedict, and by the 
Bollandists in their Acta Sanctorum. He regards the 
remaining version (P 1), which was made a little subse- 
quent to the year 850 by a monk of Penetal and which was 
edited and issued by Dom Plaine in 1885, as a much- 
mishandled redaction of the original version. Among 
these eight versions he includes the account given of our 
saint in the Vita Dubricii,+ which states that St. Samson 
became Archbishop of York. This statement rests upon 
no foundation whatever. L’Abbé Duine attributes_the 

1 British Museum, MS, Cotton Vespasian, A xiv. 


xl INTRODUCTION 


fiction to Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose Historia 
Regum Britannie was dedicated to Robert, Earl of 
Gloucester, the representative of a Breton family from 
Dol which acquired the fee of Monmouth as the result 
of the Norman Conquest. The spread of the cult of 
St. Samson would doubtless be equally gratifying to 
Geoffrey and his patron. If, as seems not improbable, 
the name Samson was actually found in the list of the 
early archbishops, of the northern province, Geoffrey 
was not the man to hesitate, when it suited his purpose, 
to identify him with St. Samson of Dol. 

M. Fawtier has placed students under a deep obliga- 
tion by carefully collating all the various manuscripts of 
the parent version. He has found and examined no less 
than twenty such manuscripts, and has placed the various 
readings as footnotes to his edition of the Metz manu- 
script! made by different hands in the tenth and 
eleventh centuries, the provenance of which is given as 
the monastery of St. Arnoul de Metz.2 That used by 
the Benedictines and Bollandists was apparently copied 
in the seventeenth century by Jacobus de Lanvy, and the 
original is now lost. 

In making the present translation I have used the 
Acta Sanctorum and M. Fawtier’s published transcript, 
and have availed myself of those variants which have 
seemed to express best the author’s meaning, giving the 
Latin at the foot of the page. Ina few instances, where 
the sense seemed to require it, or where some copyist 
may be suspected of an error in transcription, I have 
submitted a reading of my own and explained why I 
have to do so. 

The reader will rightly conclude that I have accepted 
the work of the anonymous writer as that of Henoc’s 


1 Fawtier. La Vie de Saint Samson, pp. 82-88. 
2 [bid. 


INTRODUCTION xli 


nephew, who wrote it at the beginning of the seventh 
century and gave a truthful account of the sources 
whence he obtained his information. 

It has been already stated that we have no literature 
relating to our own country of approximately the same 
date as the Life, save the De Excidio of Gildas, which 
was written about three-quarters of a century before the 
ancient Vita Samsonis. We have, however, in Cornwall 
especially, a large number of Celtic crosses and memorials 
which were erected at and about the date of St. Samson’s 
visit. We have also a church ! and parish which bear 
the saint’s name near Fowey, and another church, that 
of Southill, which is dedicated to him. There was 
formerly a chapel in Padstow parish dedicated to St. 
Samson and Cadoc, which was granted by King Henry 
VIII in 1545 to Nicholas Prideaux. 

Of the value of the Life, its authenticity and author- 
ship being accepted, there can be no question. As far as 
the present treatment of it is concerned, to use our 
author’s words: Poscimus quisque es qua hunc legis 
librunculum mea me imperitia habeas excusatum. 


1 It is this church of which mention is made in the romance of 
Tristan and Iseult, which assumed literary form in the twelfth 
century. The poet gives a wonderful picture of what could 
never have been a religious establishment of great importance :— 


S’en vont au moustier Saint Sanson 
La roine et tuit li baron 
En sont trestuit ensenble alé 
Evesque, clerc, moine et abé 
Encontre lié sont tuit issu. 
D’aubes, de chapes revestu. 
Roman de Tristan, lines 2973-2978. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Acta Sanctorum, VI, xxxiii, 568-593. (Paris and Rome, 1868.) 
Bury, Prof. J. B., Life of St. Patrick. (Macmillan & Co., 1905.) 
Concannon, Mrs. T., The Life of St. Columban. (Cath. Truth 
Soc., 1915.) 
Duchesne, Mer., Christian Worship. (S.P.C.K., 1919.) 
Duine, L’Abbé, Saints de Domnonée. (Bahon-Rault. Rennes, 
n.d.) 
La Vie de Saint Samson. (Annales de Bretagne, 1913.) 
Questions d’Hagiographie and Vie de Saint Samson. (H. 
Champion, Paris, 1914.) 
Fawtier, R., La Vie de Saint Samson. (H. Champion, Paris, 
1gI2. 
Fortescue, rea The Mass. (Longmans, Green & Co., 1914.) 
Gougaud, Dom, Les Chrétientés Celtiques. (Victor Lecoffre, 
Paris, 1911.) 
Loth, Prof. J., L’Emigvation Bretonne. (E. Barais et Cie., 
Rennes, 1883.) 
Les Noms des Saints Bretons. (H. Champion, Paris, 1910.) 
Saint Samson de Dol. (H. Champion, Paris, 1914.) 
Lowther-Clarke, W. K., The Lausiac History of fPalladius. 
(S.P.C.K., 1918.) 
Stokes, G. T., Iveland and the Celtic Church. (S.P.C.K., 1907.) 
Swete, Prof. H. B., The Church and the Ministry, by various 
Writers. (Macmillan & Co., 1918.) 
Taylor, T., The Celtic Christianity of Cornwall. (Longmans, 
Green & Co., 1916.) 
Warren, Dr. F. E., The Liturgy & Ritual of the Celtic Church, 
(Clarendon Press, 1881.) 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON 


IN THE NAME OF THE HOLY TRINITY, HERE 
BEGIN THE CHAPTERS OF THE LIFE OF 
SAINT SAMSON 


Of the goodness which was shown on his behalf before 
he was born. 

Of the consolation of the sorrowing mother declared by 
an angel to a priest. 

Of the heavenly promise on his account before he was 
conceived. 

Of his noble parents. 

Of Samson’s childhood. 

Of his spiritual mirth. 

Of the zeal of Samson’s mother. 

Of the warning which was sent by an angel against (vain) 
desires in regard to Samson. 

Of Eltut, the master. 

Of his learning. 

Of Eltut’s determination, revealed by God, on behalf of 
Samson. 

Of the facility for reading—God’s gift to Samson. 

Of the youthful fasting of Samson. 

Of the prudence of his master. 

Of the deep problem in which St. Samson was tested 
along with his master. 

Of the solution of the same problem, sent from heaven. 

Of the brother saved by Samson from the viper’s bane. 

I 


2 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


Of Samson’s diligence in the Lord. 

Of Samson’s diaconate. 

Of the two brothers’ envy of Samson. 

Of the presbyterate of the same. 

Of the poison which St. Samson drinks without harm. 

Of the demoniac saved by Samson. 

Of a certain brother’s penitence towards Samson. 

Of Samson’s departure for an island. 

Of Samson’s father and uncle and of his mother and 
mother’s sister. 

Of their good conversation. 

Of the sorceress destroyed by Samson’s words. 

Of the brother restored from the bane of the sorceress. 

Of the serpent done to death by Samson. 

Of the good work wrought by him in Ireland. 

Of the good work which was done by Samson. 

Of Samson’s abbotship. 

Of the eremitical life of Samson. 

Of Samson’s vision. 

Of the episcopate of the same. 

Of the idol destroyed by Samson. 

Of the serpent cast into the sea in Britain. 

Of Samson’s journey to Europe. 

Of the building of churches by Samson. 

Of the setting free of Judual and the victory won by 
Samson with the help of God. 

Of the countless and splendid works which God wrought 
in Europe by Samson. 


HERE BEGINS THE PROLOGUE TO THE LIFE 
OF SAINT SAMSON 


I.—URGED by the deeds of men of religion and that from 
my inmost heart, and, forasmuch as very many of the 
fathers in their understanding and perceptions, both in 
their active and especially in their contemplative life 
shine like the stars of heaven to help us, I made a study 
of their entire character, both of body and mind, with a 
somewhat penetrating and keen eye as far as mere man 
could. And when I had considered my own poverty 
and insufficiency, forsooth an ignoramus of these latter 
days, one with little understanding and still less accurate 
knowledge of the very extensive records of the Holy 
Scriptures, on this account I trembled as being unworthy 
of that task of mine which thou, enlightened from above 
in thy spiritual judgment, O most blessed Tigernomalus,} 
bishop of an apostolic see,” hast asked me to undertake. 
It is therefore with the witness of a warped conscience 
before me, and in the presence of Almighty God, that I 
plead that I am unworthy of and unfitted for the work; 
knowing that, as it is of the nature of human infirmity 
to make a great display and to be lifted up at the beck of 

1 The name Tigernomalus occurs on a stone discovered in the 
tower of Cubert Church, Cornwall, and now built into its 
western wall, near the south-west corner. The stone is of sixth 
or seventh century date and reads CONECTOCI FILI TIGER- 
NOMALUS. A Tigernomaglus was a companion of Paul 
Aurelian; but on linguistic grounds Prof. Loth is not fully 
acre that the names are identical.—St. Samson de Dol, 


2 Gildas uses the term apostolic see for episcopal see: sedem 
Petyi Apostoli immundis pedibus usurpantis.—De Excidio, No. 60. 


3 


4 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


pride, many men act presumptuously and imprudently 
and amidst the waves of this world heedlessly strive to 
swim towards that which they cannot attain, and are 
driven hither and thither owing to the uncertain fickle- 
ness of their minds; but when they have been checked 
in their perverse ways they are brought back to that to 
which they can attain. And so those winged creatures, 
of which we read in the first vision of the holy priest 
Ezechiel, having four wings, with one pair above for 
raising themselves and with the others for covering the 
body, doubtless represent all holy persons who, although 
in the course of their activities on man’s behalf are by 
custom raised on high, yet, knowing their weaknesses 
in sight of the tremendous majesty of Almighty God, 
cover such virtues as they have with the garment of 
modesty and fear. I, indeed, fired by the promise of the 
Holy Spirit and by some spark of an enlightened know- 
ledge, although I am unworthy of this duty, yet, stirred 
by thy appeals, will make my insufficiency a willing 
offering to thy pleasure and suggestion. And so thou 
dost command, O man most dear, that I furnish a brief 
statement in catholic and true terms of the history and 
sayings of St. Samson. And though apprehensive of the 
toil and deep delving involved in the work, yet to guard 
against disobedience I will certainly address myself 
to that to which I am invited by thy holy words under 
the inspiration of Almighty God. 

IJ.—And first of all I wish it to be believed that these 
words are not put together on the lines of rash sur- 
misings of my own, or of those of confused and un- 
authorised rumours; but on what I derived from a 
certain religious and venerable old man whose house 
beyond the sea Samson himself had founded.! And he, 


1 In cujus domo quam ipse solus Samson fundaverat. See 
Revue Celtique, Vol. XXXIX, 34. 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 5 


leading a catholic and religious life there, for nearly 
eighty years, in times most approximate to those of the 
aforesaid St. Samson, and being himself a cousin of 
St. Samson and a deacon, truthfully assured me that 
St. Samson’s mother had handed (the information) to 
his uncle, a most holy deacon, who himself was cousin to 
St. Samson, and (the old man) kindly related to me many 
particulars of the saint’s wonderful career. And not 
only so, but also very many and delightful accounts of 
the amazing deeds which he performed on this side of 
the sea, in Brittany and in Romania, and those which 
the said holy deacon, Henoc by name, had brought from 
beyond the sea, did the venerable old man, of whom 
we have already spoken, who lived with me in this 
monastery, cause them continually to read piously and 
attentively before me.t And so I have not thought it 
fitting that I should seek to consign to oblivion the in- 
comparable work of fortitude achieved through the holy, 
illustrious, yea most holy man Samson. 
IIT.—Nevertheless, for two reasons I had not dared to 
provide a record of those miracles so holy, nay, rather, 
so glorious and transcendent, wrought by the above- 
mentioned man at God’s command, unless thy holy and 
prudent counsel had lent encouragement to my slender 
ability. The first reason is, because I adjudged myself 
clearly unworthy, as being hindered by my sins, and also 
unequal to deal with a history so important as this is; 


1 The text as it stands is as follows :—et non solum hoc sed 
etiam quamplura ac delicata de ejus prodigiosiovibus actibus, que 
citra mare in Britannia ac Romana mirabiliose fecit, verba, supra- 
dictus sanctus diaconus, Henocus nomine, congruis stilis polite 
uliva mave adportavit, et tlle, de quo nuper prefatt sumus, venera- 
bilis senex semper ante me in istud monasterium (isto monasterio) 
commanens pie legeve ac diligenter faciebat. This would seem to 
assert that Henoc brought from Britain to the monastery at Dol 
an account of the things which had happened in Brittany, which 
is absurd. Professor Loth has proposed to insert et gue between 
verba and supradictus. This emendation is here accepted. 


6 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


and because, as I am the oldest of them all, I wished to 
escape from the detractions of the other brothers and the 
opinions of those who think differently, lest, as fre- 
quently happens, in the treatment of so many unheard- 
of things I should be accused of inaccurate statements, 
not only by some who are experienced, but also, as is 
oftener the case, by those who are ignorant, presump- 
tuous and inconsiderate. And the second reason is that 
in the brief space of this last stage of my life I feared to 
enter upon the task, believing it to be as difficult to 
accomplish, as its subject-matter, as I have already said, 
will be held by some to be incredible. But, O most 
blessed father,} having in thee one who supports the 
undertaking and indeed one who wishes to be a reader 
and a hearer, I could not refuse to declare what in my 
recollection I held to be true concerning this illustrious 
and holy man. 

IV.—And, lest these things which I have committed to 
writing should be doubted of by some, I call Christ the 
Saviour of us all to witness that I have not undertaken 
to hand down this very brief narrative to posterity from 
any fallible, erroneous, or uncertain conjecture of its 
truth, but from the statements of most holy and 
thoroughly competent men, and also from most accurate 
and elaborate statements which I found in the same 
monastery, written in a true and catholic spirit by the 
above-mentioned deacon, gathering a few things from 
many, provided only these were not wearisome to read 
but useful, and such as, with God’s help, might be set 
forth with profit. At the beginning of our work, 
however, let us pray that the help of our Lord Jesus 
Christ may be ours, whose merits and mighty works are 


1 Beatissime papa. The term “ papa,’ or pope, was not 
restricted to the bishops of Rome until the time of Gregory VII 
(1073-1085). 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 7 


manifest and wonderful in His saints throughout the 
whole world, in order that, to me a poor, unworthy and 
more than sinner, He may deign to grant a fair and 
prosperous voyage to that bourne I wish to reach, not 
because I deserve it, but for the sake of a man of such 
renown. 


THE PROLOGUE ENDS, 


HERE BEGINS THE LIFE OF SAINT SAMSON THE 
CONFESSOR OF JESUS CHRIST WHO IS 
COMMEMORATED ON THE 28TH OF JULY 


I. Saint SAMSON, then, was of the country of Demetia,* 
and as regards worldly rank was born of distinguished 
and noble parents. But, in order that the generations 
to come may certainly admire him as a priest of God, I 
do not think silence should be kept of that miracle 
which Almighty God deigned to show concerning him 
before he was conceived in his mother’s womb. For this 
first token of the honour bestowed on him, or rather 
before he was born, was indeed a wonderful one. The 
father of the same St. Samson was, as I have said, of 
Demetian stock, Amon by name, and his mother, of 
Dwent,? the next province to Demetia, Anna by name. 
In the providence of Almighty God they were honourably 
married by mutual agreement and with the common 
consent of their fathers, who were of the same station 
in life. Moreover, we certainly know that the parents 
of the same married couple were court officials of the 
kings of their respective provinces, as indeed we un- 
doubtedly find it so recorded in other amended trans- 
actions 3 of the same St. Samson, and moreover in similar 
works. Also I have heard on many occasions at the 
singing of Mass the individual names of both parents read 


1 Dyfed, which embraced the counties of Caermarthen, 
Cardigan and Pembroke. 
2 Dwent = Gwent = Monmouthshire. 
3 For Gest@ emendatiove see Fawtier, Vie de Saint Samson, 
p. 36. 
8 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 9 


out at the altar of St. Samson, among the names of 
those by whom the offering was made.t Amon indeed, 
the father of the same St. Samson, had a brother, 
Umbraphel, and moreover Anna, the mother of the same 
saint, had a sister, Afrella by name, both good brothers, 
both good sisters, born, as it would seem, of good parents. 
Moreover, Umbraphel, the younger brother of Amon, 
with the consent and approval of their parents, took to 
wife Afrella, sister of the above-mentioned Anna; and 
Afrella herself was younger than her above-mentioned 
sister. 

II. Moreover, not long after they came together, as 
they deserved, the said Afrella peacefully conceived and 
bore a son. But what need is there to hide the truth? 
She had three sons before her sister. Anna _ herself 
indeed was now thought by all her neighbours and 
friends to be unfruitful and barren. Then, when the 
hope of children for the woman had been abandoned, not 
by reason of any disparity of age as compared with that 
of her sister, but of nature, while the parents grieved and 
the mother lamented with tears, the comfort of Almighty 
God was at hand; for Anna even gave herself to frequent 
alms and oftentimes to fasting, and her husband with her. 
Now it came to pass that on a feast-day they went 
together to church, and there, among the many people 
to be discussed,? they heard a discussion concerning a 
certain Librarius who lived in a remote land to the north, 
aman sought unto by many provinces because all who 
had resorted to him used to regard as assured whatever 
he might have told them. Thereupon, as many people 
of the church on that same day were eagerly resolving 
to wait upon him in order to consult him, Amon himself, 


1 Cf. Duchesne, Christian Worship, pp. 208-209; Reading of 
the Diptychs. 
2 Jactitaretur. 


10 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


hearing these things, with a glad heart, along with his 
wife Anna, resolved to undertake the journey with them 
to the same master. 

III. And it came to pass that at length, at the end 
of the third day when the fatigue of the journey was over, 
they reached the place where the master Librarius had 
his dwelling, and there found the aforesaid master 
sitting with much people and discoursing much on 
particular cases. Then indeed Amon, offering gifts and 
casting himself on his knees before him with his wife in 
like manner, humbly begged him to apply his mind 
attentively to their case. When that master had im- 
posed silence concerning the other cases which were 
causing a vehement stir around him, closely questioning 
them as good people who had made a long journey, and 
smiling all the time he inquired, “‘ O my children, tell me 
the reason of your toil in such a long journey.” Then 
Amon, having opened his mouth, shut it with great joy 
as the master said to him, “ I know the reason of your 
visit ; it is because thy wife has hitherto been barren, 
and now I believe the divine pity will come to her aid, but 
do thou make a silver rod equal in length to thy wife and 
give it for her sake, and afterwards Almighty God will 
raise you up seed according to His will and in fulfilment 
of your desire.”” At these words Amon joyfully said, “ I 
will give three silver rods equal in length to her.” 

IV. And the master, perceiving the discernment and 
prudence of the man, made them remain with him in his 
guest-chamber until they had given their poor bodies 
rest the following night after the fatigue of the journey. 
And so it happened that as she lay there God deigned to 
speak in a vision to the woman Anna: “ O troubled one, 
woman strong in faith and steadfast in the love of God 
and instant in prayer, happy art thou, happy is thy womb 
and happier the fruit of thy womb. Behold, at God’s 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL ir 


command, the firstborn son whom thou bringest forth 
has been found worthy of the priestly office; for thy 
womb shall conceive and become fruitful and bring 
forth a son, and its first offspring shall be seven times 
brighter than the silver which thy husband has given 
for thee to God.” Thereupon the woman, rendered 
timid yet nevertheless glad for the greatness of the 
vision and for the glory of the angel of God who stood 
by her and spoke to her, and also for (the desire) of a 
hoped-for child, and especially, as is the way of good 
women, by reason of modesty, was unable to make any 
reply at all. But by way of comfort (thus) was it spoken 
to her by the angel, ‘“‘ Fear not, O woman,” said he, 
“nor be mistrustful, for God will deign to comfort thy 
grief, and thy tears shall be turned unto joy for thee; 
behold, thou shalt have a child and thou shalt call thy 
firstborn son Samson; he shall be holy and a high priest 
before Almighty God, and thou shalt have proof of this 
thing in the morning at the hands of that master to whom 
thou hast come.” 

V. Awaked from sleep the woman narrated in order 
all the things which she had seen and heard to her 
husband. Now as they rejoiced, and mutually discussed 
(these things), the returning light of day appeared; 
then, in view of the long journey, they rose early and 
while she was making herself ready and putting on her 
garments, before they set forth on their journey, the 
master appeared rejoicing and shouting for joy. 
“Blessed art thou, O woman,” said he, ‘“‘ and blessed 
is thy womb, and more blessed the fruit of thy womb, 
for this night the Lord hath deigned to reveal things 
concerning thee and thy offspring; for thy firstborn 
son is ordained by God to be a high priest,t and, when 


1 summus sacervdos. 


12 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


thou shalt bring him forth, thou shalt name him Samson, 
and afterwards, at the proper time, thou shalt hand him 
over to be taught knowledge: therefore of the British 
race there has not been or will be anyone like him, 
namely as a priest, who shall be profitable to many. 
Thus, when they had received his blessing, they went 
away home happy and contented. 

VI. God did not delay to fulfil His promise; and so 
that mother joyfully conceived, gladly bore and 
successfully brought forth the beloved of God, her first- 
born son. Then a mighty joy seized hold of their kins- 
men! when they heard this, as they gave thanks to 
God because the Lord had turned in mercy towards 
them. The son was therefore nobly nursed, following 
the noble custom of his noble forefathers, and baptised 
by this not inappropriate name according to that which 
had been foretold? in the promise, while also the 
supremely happy mother urged it. She occupied ® her- 
self much and always by day and by night, with the 
purity of his childhood, yea in his play. And lest, in 
any or even in the smallest detail, the part destined by 
God for the profit of many should be contaminated, 
divine providence wrapped him round and preserved him 
uninjured. For, by the coaxing and carefulness of his 
happy mother, his play was directed to keeping festival 
and to reading, and even to a pretence of writing, not 
in reality but in make-believe. And later on the course 
of events justified her course of procedure. For, when 
he was about five years of age, he, by himself, with all 
the affection of his boyish mind, very much wished to 
go to the school of Christ, but his father, in changed 
mood, with his mind thoroughly turned against the 
will of God and the line laid down, and above all (led) 


1 yicinos, ‘‘ kinsmen.”’ 2 sortilatum. 
® satagebat. “ joct. 


Tae LAP ORS! ..SAMSON- OF DOL: .. 12 


by wicked counsellors and by his friends, who were quite 
ignorant of that secret miracle which had formerly been 
wrought, spoke against his son becoming a clerk, clearly 
regarding the office of a cleric as unworthy of his family, 
inasmuch as they had ever been the ministers of an 
earthly kingdom! and the bringers-up of kings; so 
much so, that a difference being allowed to arise between 
the two parents, by day and by night, they were ever 
disputing, while the mother’s desire for her son was the 
better part, even that of a priest, in accordance with the 
testimony of the angel. 

VII. But while they were considering other things, 
on a certain night a heavenly voice came to Amon in 
his sleep full of warning, in case he should dare to hold 
back from the course marked out for him. And as for 
Amon, awaked as he was from sleep by the wonder of 
so great a vision, a great fear fell on him, and rising from 
the bed and casting himself on the ground he made an 
act of penitence ? for his transgression, however small and 
insignificant, and promised in entire faith that he would 
do nothing further concerning his son contrary to the 
will of God. Then immediately, as the day broke, with- 
out any delay, Amon caused his son to be led away to 
school, saying, ‘“‘ O wife, let us lose no time in sending 
our son, rather God’s son, to school, for God is with him 
and we ought to do nothing against God,” and he related 
everything which he had seen that night concerning him. 
Then she greatly rejoiced and, although at the time with 
child, rose from her bed and, with all her heart’s affec- 
tion, magnified the Lord for all His benefits which He 
had mercifully shown to them, and in one and the same 
hour, with a common purpose, they rose up together and, 
with a common provision for the journey, set about 


1 yegnt. 
2 penitudinem gessit, ‘ was filled with regret.’’—Duine, Lexique. 


14 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


conducting their son to the school 4 of the famous master 
of the Britons, Eltut by name. Now this Eltut was a 
disciple 2 of St. Germanus, and St. Germanus himself 
had ordained him priest in his youth. And in truth 
. Eltut was of all the Britons the most accomplished in 
all the Scriptures, namely of the Old and New Testa- 
ments, and in those of philosophy * of every kind, of 
geometry namely, and of rhetoric, grammar and arith- 
metic, and of all the theories of philosophy. And by 
birth 5 he was a most wise magician, having knowledge 
of the future. In his splendid monastery I have been, 
and if we allow ourselves to be led aside by his wonderful 
deeds, each one, we shall be led too far from our original 
undertaking. Nevertheless, in order to establish our 
point, let me declare ® before all, one which has been 
related by our catholic brothers who dwelt in this place. 

VIII. For when he was weighed down by mortal sick- 
ness of body, he caused two other abbats to come and 
visit him: one was called Isanus, the other Atoclius. 
And so when he saw them, greeting each according to 
custom, thus he began: “‘I rejoice,’ he said, “‘ dearest 
brothers, at your arrival, forasmuch as the time of my 
departure and of my sleep in Christ is at hand, and you 
offer me due respect. But be of good comfort, brothers, 
since the heavenly message of departure from the body 
is equally to you, even now, and close after me; your 
passing indeed will be one, but the issue thereof diverse. 
I indeed shall be taken? by the hands of angels this night 

1 College of Llantwit, near Cowbridge, in Glamorganshire. 

* de disctpulis. 

8 If St. German died in 448 and Eltut was born in 436, this 
must be a mistake. 

* philosophia, “‘ science ’’ (Duine). 

5 Was he a Druid by birth or descent ? 

6 divimamus per singula=vrimamus, ‘‘enter into detail.’’— 


Duine, Lextque. 
* percipiar. 


THE LIFE OF’ ST..SAMSON OF DOL 15 


in your presence when it is hardly midnight; and on 
such wise that my brother Isanus will see my soul in 
the likeness of an eagle having ! two golden wings. He 
will see at the same time the soul of that one in the 
form of an eagle indeed flying heavily forsooth, having 
two wings of lead; and after forty days, again, brother 
Isanus also himself, just as he has departed, and in like 
form, will come to Christ. But thou, brother Atoclius, 
hast greatly coveted the things of the world, and so 
indeed thy type of winged animal is of the world, but 
thou hast not the fineness of gold in thy wings because 
- of thy avarice. Fine, of a truth, thou art by reason of 
thy pristine holiness preserved from thy childhood up 
to the present, but thou art heavy on thy wings because 
of the leaden weight of avarice. Nevertheless God 
Almighty will deign to take away these wings from thee.” 
Discoursing of these and many like things, and calling 
much to mind during a day and a night, as he himself 
had said, when it was nearly midnight, as he bade fare- 
well to the brothers, he departed happily from this 
habitation of flesh amid hymns and choruses and the 
accustomed solemnities. And blessed Isanus saw his 
soul under the seeming likeness which he himself had 
mentioned, and perceived the soul of the other brother in 
like manner as the old man had said; and with diffi- 
culty, by his endeavours, by the prayers of saints and 
many masses sung, was it ransomed, so that, as he and 
only he saw it, was it restored to something better, and 
absolved from the worst of its sins for ever; and he 
pointed out all these things to the brothers and was 
held in admiration of them all; and, moreover, on the 
appointed day, by a similar departure, he came happily 
to Christ according to the promise of the old man. But 
let me return to the subject from which I have digressed. 
1 habentem. 


16 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


IX. On this occasion, therefore, when St. Eltut beheld 
with his eyes Samson the chosen child of God, as he 
received him from his mother’s hand with the gifts 
which, according to custom, his parents had brought with 
him, he kissed him affectionately, and looking up to 
heaven and blessing him he began to speak as follows: 
“We give thanks to God, who has deigned to give light 
on earth by this lamp proceeding from our race, unworthy 
though we be. Behold the noble chief of us all, behold 
him who is to be a high priest, to the profit of many on 
this side and beyond the sea; behold the illustrious priest 
of all the Britons; behold the most famous of all, as a 
founder of churches, since the Apostles.””’ When they 
heard these things his parents wished to hear more con- 
cerning him, but St. Eltut thus returned answer: “ It 
is not my duty to tell you this, nor yours to question me; 
for there is a time to keep silence and there is a time to 
speak; now hand over to me that boy to be taught.” 

X. Moreover, as his parents were leaving, he himself 
kept by the side of the aforesaid master, not driven by 
any desire to weep after mother or father; but, as if 
he had been nourished there from his very cradle, he 
stayed with steadfast and delightful grace. It was 
wonderful the way he learnt in one and the same day the 
twenty letters (of the alphabet) and all the signs, and 
there was no need to show him any further; and, what 
is more wonderful than all these things, within seven days 
he was able, by God’s revealing, to understand the 
meanings of these letters in the co-ordination of words; 
for in reading indeed, so exact was his mind that, in so 
far as the human reason is capable of it, he quite com- 
pletely mastered all the psalms. Moreover, when he 
was about fifteen he exercised himself in the very frequent 
fasts and the longer vigils which were kept by all the 
brothers who lived there, so much so that when he often 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 17 


tried to maintain the appointed posture,! sometimes 
even for two days, that most sensible master forbad him 
and said unto him, ‘“‘ It is not meet, little son, that the 
tender body of a youth, up till now in the flowering 
stage, should be broken by too many and ill-regulated 
fasts.” 

XI, Moreover, in regard to the deeper meanings of the 
Scriptures, so acute was his understanding that he was 
wont to seek for more in spiritual interpretations than 2 
was presented to him by the aforesaid master. And it 
came to pass on a certain day, both he and his master 
came across a doubtful point in a certain deep question, 
and that question I know, but I omit to introduce it 
lest in this connection we should tarry too long; for 
they, though diligently studying all the treatises of the 
Old and New Testaments, could in no wise find the 
explanation. Thereupon, St. Samson determined within 
himself to undertake fasts and vigils until God should 
deign to show to him the solution of this question. Now 
while he prayed on the third night, at nearly midnight, 
he saw a light sent from heaven appear before him, and 
he heard a longed-for voice, out of the light, saying 
sweetly unto him, ‘‘ Trouble not thyself further, elect of 
God, for, behold, not only shalt thou solve this question 
at which thou toilest, but whatsoever things thou shalt 
ask of God by prayer and fasting thou shalt obtain as 
thy good deserts demand.” ? Then St. Samson gave 
thanks to Almighty God and returned quite happy to 
his cell, and gently related to his master all which he had 
seen and heard. 

XII. Now it came to pass on a certain day as the 
brothers went forth, one lovely morning in summer, 


1 positiones. 2 quamque. 
3 exigentibus. Duine detects a trace of Pelagian influence in 
this expression.—Questions d’Hagiographie, p. 35. 


18. THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON "OF DOL 


to take out the weeds from the crop, that a certain 
reptile,! darting 2 from a blackberry bush, bit one of the 
brothers in the groin and he fell to the ground and 
remained just alive. The brothers as they wept and 
prayed around him doubted not that he was going to 
die. Then regaining confidence they said “‘ Let us send 
word of this to our Elder.”’ ? Therefore they dispatched 
a certain man, and he related the matter to the master 
in the presence of St. Samson. Now, while he wept, 
St. Samson, moved by the Holy Spirit, spake thus: 
“Master, command me to go to him; my father indeed 
is informed and experienced and able to free the man 
from this death of pain.”’* Then St. Eltut, as if in scorn, 
taking up his parable spake as follows: ‘‘ In the begin- 
ning thou wast instructed in the art of Stipho,® and 
afterwards, now that thou art come to school for the 
discipline of Christ, thou desirest-to practise it: of a 
truth it is not meet to practise worldly magic along with 
heavenly wisdom.’ ® But St. Samson, smiling, even so 
returned answer: ‘‘ Art thou not aware, elect master, 
that 7 I have no father except Him of whom it is spoken 
by the prophet,* ‘Thy hands have made me and 
fashioned me’?’”’ Thereupon the master, when he 
heard this, struck with wonder and amazement and not 
daring to act otherwise, said, “‘ Elect of God, go.”” Then 
St. Samson went and ran and found the brother now 
almost at his last gasp; and, when he had sent away from 


1 Hilidey. In the Nova Legenda Anglie the word is coluber, 
asnake. This word isfound in the Hisperica famina under the 
form chilydrus (x€Avipos). 

2 extliens. 3 sent. 

4 de hujus doloris nece, deadly wound, “‘ blessuve dangereuse.”’ 
(Duine). 

5 Other readings give Phito and Pytho. See Justin Martyr, 
XVIII. 

® sapienta for sapientia. 

7 quia for quod ? Job. x, 8. 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 19 


him all the other brothers, he chose one very tried priest 
to be with him and made the sign of the Cross on the 
serpent bite, knowing by the grace of God that virtue 
was present ; and for three hours, that is, from the third 
to the sixth hour, sending forth prayers, and blessing 
water mixed with oil, by the wonderful working of God 
he restored the brother who was almost dead safe and 
sound to all the brothers who were present. And that 
he might not be, as it were, raised in the favour of the 
multitude, on account of this work, to the vainglory of 
boasting, as is the way of human nature, he gave thanks 
to God and practised an ever-unwearied, and, very 
frequently, a stricter abstinence. 

XIII. In truth his humility, and therefore courtesy 
and gentleness, and above all his wonderful love, beyond 
human measure, so to speak, was such that he was 
regarded by all his brothers with wonderful affection. 
Moreover, his master, noting his earnestness in the wor- 
ship of God, and reverencing the Christ whom he per- 
ceived shining in his breast, as, for example, from the 
secret signs concerning him, caused the ministry of the 
diaconate to be entrusted to him. When Father! 
Dubricius arrived at that same house on a Sunday, he was 
ordained deacon by that very father with the consent and 
acclamation of all the brothers and also with the goodwill 
of God. And this matter would not be enlarged upon 
unless a miracle had intervened. Three brothers were 
ordained at the same place, two to the office of priest 
and he, the third, to that of deacon; but when the 
brothers were required, according to custom, to bend 
for pardon,? the holy father, at the same time with 
St. Eltut, saw a dove, sent from heaven through the open 

1 papa. 

2 See Duine, Origines Britonnes, p. 38, and Duchesne, 
Christian Worship, p. 356. 


20 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


window, take its stand fixedly on high over St. Samson, 
not as is the way of a bird flying or flitting about, but 
remaining all the time without the least flutter of its 
wings while the ministers went to and fro everywhere 
throughout the church. And not only so, but also, 
when the bishop raised his hand over him to confirm 
him as a deacon, what is still more wonderful, that dove, 
sent, as I have said, from heaven, descended on his 
right shoulder and there? persistently stayed all the 
time until the entire service was finished by the bishop. 
This was not a matter for wonder to anyone in the Church 
to be sure, because it was not made visible to anyone 
save to them only, the bishop and the aforesaid master 
and one deacon who held the chalice and had sung the 
Gospel and prayer; yet always that same wonderful 
dove stayed silently over him, as the three looked on, 
until he received the communion of the Eucharist. In 
short, the bishop and master, as they discussed these 
things by turn between themselves, arrived at such a 
state of amazement that they undoubtedly thought that 
St. Samson was not now an earthly but a heavenly being. 
In truth St. Samson had grown so wonderful and, if I 
may so speak, so ineffable in the work of God, that from 
day to day, naturally rising as by a spiritual ladder 
higher and higher to the highest summit of religion, he 
was seen to emerge, by daily use, renewed and bettered. 

XIV. However, Eltut had in his monastery a pupil 
who was also his nephew and a priest, and this priest 
had a brother without rank.2. These men, alienated from 
the brothers in a measure in respect of love for St. 
Samson, doubtless by the ancient enemy of the human 

1 Eusebius relates the story of a dove which alighted on the 
head of Fabian in the year 250 and was recognised as divine 
guidance for his election to the episcopate. Eusebius, Hist. 


Eccles., VI, 29 (3). 
2 7. e. not in orders. 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL. 2t 


race, who incited them by means of the worthless 
guerdon which envy holds out, and wickedly fearing 
lest, on account of one whom they knew to be better 
than themselves, they would be deprived of an hereditary 
worldly possession, could neither find any evil in him 
nor dwell together peaceably and lovingly. Ignoring 
the higher counsel of God they became deeply plunged in 
the lowest things. But he, knowing all about it, and 
nowise hiding himself from the Lord, besought Him the 
more on their account, and, shedding tears with his 
prayers, humbly entreated the Lord that (these) very 
wicked men might not run into the abyss of crime on 
his account. Ever bent on fasting and exercised in 
unceasing prayers, also very often immersed ! in search- 
ing and in learning the Holy Scriptures, without any 
pause he went on praying, according to the exhortation 
of the Apostle Paul, in cold and nakedness, all night 
long, through wintry frosts, subdued not by the winds 
of winter or by the oppressive heat of summer, mindful 
of the Apostle’s word when he says,? “ the sufferings of 
this present time are not worthy to be compared with 
the glory which shall be revealed in us.”’ 

XV. Indeed not long after—the year up to the present 
is uncertain—as he was worthy, at the master’s request 
and God willing, he worthily received the order of the 
priesthood at the hands of the same bishop who had come 
to admit him to the diaconate. But why do we stay 
longer over it? Such a sign as was seen when he 
received the office of the diaconate, such also appeared, 
as God’s token of his worthiness, to the same three, and 
to only these by whom it had been seen on the former 
occasion. But, as God willed, he neither willed nor 
foolishly refused but accepted gratefully what God had 
promised. In so far as he had been placed in a higher 

1 sensatus. 2 Rom. viii, 18. 


22 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


position to the same extent by voluntary surrender, he 
cultivated 1 himself by a stricter rule of abstinence accord- 
ing to the word of the Holy Scriptures. For he studied © 
before all things to be more humble and more courteous. 
What indeed shall I say of his practice of chastity and 
continence? Whenever did he, who from the first 
flower of his youth until his blessed end happily and 
completely conquered the incentive to lust,® alike in 
respect of the male and the female sex, hold voluntary 
niceness of the flesh as a thing of nature? To be sure 
he was one who never, throughout his whole life, tasted 
such a thing as the flesh of any beast or winged creature : 
no one ever saw him drunk: never through change of 
mind, of halting indecision, not even in the least degree # 
did any kind of drink injure him in any way; never 
did he put away altogether from himself any drink; but 
when he was not fasting, he took his meals daily with the 
rest of the brothers for the sake of charity, and, accord- 
ing to the Gospel, thirsted after righteousness. 

XVI. Now these two brothers spoken of above, filled 
as it would seem with devilish poison, continued to regard 
him with evil eyes, and that bad priest especially whose 
bad deed I know, but whose name I have not been able 
to. learn, fearing lest, owing to St. Samson, he himself 
would be robbed of his hereditary monastery, which he 
hoped to possess after his uncle, and his brother being 
like minded, sought ® an evil motive for his manner of 
life, but, as they found no cause of accusation against 
him, they were driven hither and thither like men who 
are drunk and distraught. Now, as the rest of the rulers 
were changing places by turn, the brother of the said 

1 inseveret. 

2 Qu. ‘To whom much is given, of him much shall be 
required.” 


8 libidinosam incentivam. 
4 minime. 5 perquaerebat. 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON. OF DOL = 323 


priest was made cellarer ! of this monastery. Moreover, 
it was a custom in the constitutions of this monastery 
to bruise herbs from the garden, such as were beneficial 
for the health, in a vessel and to serve it out in small 
quantities to the several brothers in their porringers by 
means of a small siphon for their health’s sake, so that 
when they came in from saying Terce they found the 
mixing vessel already prepared with garden herbs. Now 
the cellarer, having accepted the counsel of his wicked 
brother, mixed the vessel with poison for St. Samson 
along with its antidote, bruising a kind of lime tree that 
he might give? it him to drink. And that he might 
learn to what extent it was likely to prove fatal he gave 
a little of it toa cat? in milk. And it came to pass that, 
when it drank it in milk, it gave a headlong spring and 
forthwith was dead. Now when the cellarer saw this 
he was highly pleased, and doubted not that when 
St. Samson had drunk from this vessel he would straight- 
way take his departure from this world. But, while 
St. Samson was at prayer, forthwith the Spirit of God 
revealed to him these things and the evil of late wrought 
against him. Nevertheless, trusting in the promise of 
the Lord, mindful of the word of the Gospel where 
Christ says concerning His faithful who trust in Him, 
“Tf they shall drink,” He says, “any deadly thing it 
shall not hurt them,’ and so on, he entered the refectory 
exceeding glad, and the more so because he was himself 
the steward of this monastery. And so, blessing the 
vessels for the brothers and making the sign of the 
Cross on his own, without any wavering of mind he drank 
it dry and never felt even the slightest heartache from it. 

XVII. But as they were breakfasting together, on the 


1“ C’est un cuisinier de semaine chargé de preparer les breu- 
vages.’’—Duine, Questions d Hagiographre, p. 61. 
2 ut daret. 3 pelact. 
E 


24 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


very same day, St. Samson was heard holding a sweet 
and most pleasant conversation with the cellarer. 
‘Great,’ he said, ‘‘ was the sweetness to my throat; 
and great the strength to my heart, O most loving 
brother, did that cup afford me, which thou gavest me 
the first thing to-day. May God heal thee of all sickness 
whatsoever thou hast.’’ When he heard these things, 
the brother inwardly felt compunction for the evil he 
had done, and promised in the presence of Almighty God 
that he would no longer take evil counsel with his 
brother against this servant of God, who, to be sure, he 
had come to know was aware of all things, and bore all 
his brother’s ill-will patiently. Presently he came to 
reprove his brother and said, ‘‘ Brother, we have sinned 
nothing against any man but against Christ and against 
Samson His beloved; and thou, brother, hast been 
steeped in thine heart by the poisonous prompting of 
malice, by the author and inspirer of thy crime, by him 
of whom ! it is said by the prophet, ‘ through envy of 
the devil came death into the world,’ ? therefore they 
who hold with him imitate him.’ But his brother, 
persisting in the stubbornness of his wicked opinion, 
gave no assent to the good advice. Meanwhile the swift 
judgment of God out of heaven was ready to fall. 
XVIII. For when the next Sunday arrived, while he 
received at the hand of St. Samson the communion of 
the Altar, in that same moment 4 when he conveyed the 
morsel to his mouth, in that very moment he was seized 
by an evil spirit so that, turning pale and trembling, 
giving forth much belching and tearing about, he fell 
all of a heap to the ground. And when he had in- 
decently stripped off his clothes, he first of all began to 
bite both his lips with his teeth and to rate the other 


1 de quo. 2 Wisdom ii, 24. 
2 bono consilio. 4 una hora. 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL = 25 


brothers without any regard for shame and to provoke 
their hearts to anger, saying, ‘‘ Why do you stay here, 
lazy ones, men mighty to do nothing? For I should care 
nothing for any of you if one among you were not 
present; if that one had been here, he would have com- 
plete control over me.’’ Now when a very wise old man 
heard these things, he ordered him to be seized and 
bound by strong brothers and to be led outside. On 
seeing this his brother, weeping and sobbing and casting 
himself prostrate in entreaty on the ground, in the 
presence of all the brothers, declared the whole crime 
of them both, that it might be done openly,! and humbly 
begged with tears for forgiveness of his offence, promising 
that he would do penance all his life and evermore serve 
God and St. Samson, 

XIX. When they heard these things the brothers, 
together with their abbat, marvelled greatly at these 
things which were happening and, very much fearing 
lest St. Samson should be offended by this unpleasant 
business of the poison of late unhappily come to light, 
and above all, lest he should depart from them, inasmuch 
as by the latest wrong and its deserved punishment 
they thought that would happen, they humbly begged 
the elect of God that he would not refuse to go to the 
dwelling in which the demoniac brother was vexed by 
the evil spirit. But St. Samson, weeping and wailing 
bitterly, thus returned answer in the presence of all the 
brothers, saying, ‘‘ Woe is me! wherefore, Lord God 
Almighty, hast Thou done this to me, that on my 
account Thou hast allowed my very loving brother to 
transgress? for I fear to be present in the sight of that 
man who unjustly hates ? me, and especially of the devil 
who inflames him with the torch of hatred. I grieve 
nevertheless that he has suffered injury at the hands 

1 in directo, ‘ franchement.’’—Duine. 2 odientis. 


26 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


of the enemy; but now, if I have favour in the sight of 
Thy Majesty, through the prayers of the rest of the 
brothers, with my unworthy mediation, let him receive 
healing, and Thou shalt give him a contrite heart that 
his soul may be saved.” And, blessing oil and mixing 
it with water, he began to give it him to taste. When 
he had tasted these things, he slipped from the hands 
of those who held him, fell on his back and became as 
one dead, and the brothers thought not otherwise than 
that he was going to die; and, after lying between life 
and death in that spot for the space of almost three 
hours, not long after Nones he regained consciousness 
as one alive from the dead, and recovered from the 
devilish attack his former health, and by the inspira- 
tion of God, in the presence of all the brothers, he 
expressed his penitence for the evil he had done and 
acknowledged it; and so, by the just judgment of God 
it came to pass that, while he covetously and unrigh- 
teously laid claim to the primacy, throughout his life he 
never held it. 

XX. St. Samson, however, continued to cultivate him- 
self by keener and stricter fasts, very seriously meditating 
in his heart that that monastery was regarded, through 
all the land, as turbulent and indeed wasteful. But he, 
ever desiring to tread that evangelical and narrow path 
which leads to heaven, gave much thought how he might 
escape from the society of that brotherhood ! without 
wounding the feelings of its master. Now there was, not 
far from this monastery, a certain island? recently 
inhabited by one, an eminent man and holy priest, 
Piro by name. In this island I too have been, and it 
was with him, I say, that St. Samson wished to sojourn, 


1 caenobit. 
* insula. The word insula is also used of a monastery. Duine 
takes insula here in the sense of monastery. 


THe LIFE OF SI. SAMSON ..OF DOL a7 


but he greatly feared, as I have already said, lest he 
should offend his chief. 

XXI. While, therefore, he was considering such-like 
things with himself and asking God to give him the 
riches of His will, behold a messenger of the Lord 
appeared to St. Eltut 4 in a dream, saying, “‘ In the 
morning when thou risest, ask the will of St. Samson 
so that, where he wishes (to go), thou mayest forward 
him, as God is leading him in all things, for know thou 
also that God is always with him.’’ When that saint 
awoke, retaining within him by memory the things 
which had been spoken to him in his sleep, in the morning 
he rose at daybreak and ordered St. Samson to be sum- 
moned to him, and said, ‘‘ Tell me, beloved of God, the 
things which, by God’s inspiration, are stored in thy will. 
This night I had an instruction ? concerning thee that I 
should forward thy affairs, since God is with thee.” 
When St. Samson heard this he sighed and said he had 
done no good thing in the sight of God; nevertheless he 
unfolded very humbly his will to his chief. Moreover, 
the old man, when he heard these things, returned answer 
as follows: ‘‘ Thou must do all things for Christ’s sake 
and willingly endure poverty: nevertheless no one at 
all in our generation shall be greater than thee.” And, 
checking his tongue and beating his breast, he fulfilled 
all things according to the will of St. Samson and caused 
him to be led in peace to the island whither he was bent. 
And there he was in such wise received by the same above- 
mentioned priest Piro, an old man already advanced 
in years, as if he had the appearance of an angel of God 
sent down from heaven. And leading, with untiring 
patience, a wonderful, isolated and above all a heavenly 
life, he ceased not, day or night, from prayer and com- 
munion with God. Spending the whole day in working 

1 Eltutum. 2 habui de te precepium quod opituler. 


28 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


with his hands and in prayer, and the whole night, more- 
over, in the mystical interpretation of the Holy Scrip- 
tures, he carried the lamp to his dwelling in order that, 
bent upon reading, he might either write something 
or exercise himself in spiritual contemplation;1} for 
although, as a man, he had need of rest for the sake of 
human weakness and reclined against the wall or any- 
thing hard for support, he never slept in a bed. 

XXII. Now at a certain time 2 in winter, when the 
father of the same St. Samson, suddenly seized with 
sickness, was summoned to discharge death’s debt, he 
was urged by his relatives,? according to custom, to 
receive the sacrifice of Communion before his natural 
death. But he violently asserted that he would never 
taste of death, never recover health, never partake of 
the sacrifice,* unless he saw his first begotten son Samson, 
the elect of God; and he said that through him he would 
receive health equally of body and soul. Struck with 
wonder at these words, the men who heard him, at once 
carefully weighing the meaning of these things, straight- 
way ordered horsemen to be sent to request him not to 
delay to visit his father now lying at death’s door and, 
above all, desirous of recovering at his hands health of 
body and of mind. 

XXIII. These messengers, without stop, arrived at 
the place where St. Samson lived and received hospitality 
for the night. As the brothers were going forth in the 
morning to perform their work, they found them knock- 
ing at the door to inquire how they might easily have 
speech with St. Samson. St. Samson, however, spiri- 
tually jesting with them, who did not recognise him, spoke 
thus: ‘‘ Tell me the cause of that inquiry, in which 


1 Compare Prologue, Chap. I, and see Duine, La Vie de 
S. Samson, pp. 339-40, n, 2. 
2 quodam (tempore). 3 viCciNis. £ 7.¢., communicate. 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 29 


behalf you wish to have speech with him, and I will 
explain.” And they answered and said to him, ‘‘ We 
wish to see him and to speak with him ; for his father and 
mother! and all the neighbours have sent us to talk 
with him.”’ And he himself with cheerful countenance 
answering said to them, ‘‘ Verily I say to you, unless you 
declare in my presence all your affairs, by reason of which 
you have come hither, you shall never see the Samson 
whom you seek,’”’ However, while they were lamenting 
and mistrusting the one the other, St. Piro delighted 
now spoke as follows: ‘‘ Behold Samson whom you have 
sought with so much fatigue of travel; now, what you 
have to tell, tell me.’? Then these men fell down before 
him and announced the greeting of his parents and 
related truly the reason why they had come. 

XXIV. When, however, St. Samson heard (them), in 
the first place? he sighed within himself, thinking it 
unnecessary to return to the home in which he had been 
carnally born; and to those who were advising him he 
said, ‘‘ Go back to our house, for, unless I am mistaken, 
I have already left Egypt; to be sure my way is not in 
that very direction; of a truth God is powerful to heal 
a sick man.’’ And thereupon, pressing on in front of 
the brothers, with rapid stride, bent upon doing a work 
further away, he was taking a step forward, when St. 
Piro, moved with pity, nay rather by the Holy Spirit, 
who was ordaining a means for the manifestation of 
power, gently called him back to him and said unto him, 
‘‘ Wherefore speakest thou thus, elect of God? for thou 
oughtest not to be slack to do the work of God; surely 
it behoves thee to have a care for the profit of souls; 

1 The writer evidently had in his mind the incident described 
by St. Matthew (xii, 46), and this probably accounts for the 
Scriptural expression employed by St. Samson in his reply to the 


messengers. 
2 inprimts. 


30 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


for thy reward will be great in the sight of God what 
time spiritual things are sown by thee in the place where 
carnal things have grown!’ St. Samson, however, 
looking upon him, after a short silence spake as follows : 
“Would that thy will might be done; for the sake of 
God and for the advantage of souls, I am prepared for 
all things.”” And they who had been sent begged him 
that he would make one of the company together with 
them; and he said unto them, ‘‘ Do ye go on ahead and 
we will quickly follow.’’ And being assured that he was 
about to follow them, when they had received a blessing 
they left. 

XXV. He, however, tarried a day and a night in the 
monastery after they had gone and, on the morrow, he 
said, ‘‘ If I am summoned for the profit of souls and of 
charity, is there a brother amongst you ready to endure 
loss with me?” There was a certain deacon, and he 
himself as yet in the flower of the age of youth, to whom 
the abbat said, ‘“‘ Thou art stronger than those old men, 
for the sake of charity, go with thy brother.” St. Sam- 
son, however, though he foresaw in his spirit that he 
would not be strong in faith, very joyfully in a word said 
to him, ‘‘ Take courage, brother, and play the man.” 

XXVI. Having thereupon received a blessing and put 
the horse in the cart, they began to pursue their way. 
And it came to pass, while they traversed a vast forest, 
praying as they went, they heard a frightful shrieking 
cry evidently from some awful creature near them on their 
right, and on hearing this cry the above-mentioned 
deacon began to be alarmed, and first of ail turning } 
pale, he quickly let go the horse which he had been lead- 
ing with his hand, and, flinging away the mantle he was 
wearing, betook himself to rapid flight, while St. Samson 
shouted after him and said, “Be of good courage, 

1 pallens. 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 31 


brother, I beseech thee, be of good courage lest thou fear, 
and forget the instruction of the gospel on which thou 
hast been fed from thy youth.” But, as he heeded not 
and continued to flee, St. Samson, now beholding him 
from afar with tearful eyes, bravely bearing his wonted 
spiritual armour and the shield of faith, and investing 
himself with the ever holy sign of the Cross, saw a 
sorceress, in truth a very old woman with shaggy hair 
and that already grey, with her garments of red,! holding 
in her hand a bloody ? trident, yea, and sweeping the 
spacious forest in swift career, making a straight line 
in pursuit of the fleeing man. St. Samson, however, 
steadfast in faith, as if he had seen the same things 
before, continued unshaken in mind and, at high speed, 
keeping the horse in hand, and throwing the fugitive’s 
mantle on the horse, boldly followed after the fugitive and 
his pursuer; and not far off, as he went on, found the 
fugitive brother half dead, and, gazing upon him for a 
moment, beheld a long way distant, the old sorceress. 
running, and perceiving that she was now descending 
into the valley he shouted after her and said, ‘‘ Woman 
why do you flee? behold, I am a man like my com- 
panion whom thou hast laid low: if I have been given 
into thy power, behold, I am here, do not flee; therefore 
trust me to come to thee.’’ But, as she did not heed 
these words and still strove to escape, St. Samson 
shouted after her and said, ‘‘ I command thee in the name 
of Jesus Christ not to stir a step further from that spot 
where thou now standest until I come and speak to thee.”’ 

XXVII. Thereupon, while she stood in that very same 
spot and trembled and allowed the bloody weapon to 
fall to the ground, St. Samson came up and very reluc- 


1 See Fawtier’s note, pp. 45, 46, n. Duine renders bribetham 
as ‘‘rags and tatters’ (en loques en bribes). 
2 venalem, probably from vena. 


32 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


tantly flouted her, saying, ‘‘ Who art thou, misshapen 
one, and of what kind art thou?” And she, greatly 
trembling, said, ‘‘ Iam a sorceress, for indeed the women 
of my race and sex, as morally perverse, have to this day 
been transgressors in your sight, and now no one of my 
race is left in this wood save me only. For I have 
eight sisters and my mother is still living, and these are 
not here, but dwell in a wood more remote, and I was 
made over to this wilderness by my husband, and my 
husband is dead, and on this account I am unable to 
withdraw from this wood.’’ However the saint said, 
‘Art thou prepared to restore again to life the brother 
whom thou hast stabbed, or at any rate to bestir thyself 
concerning the profit of thy soul?’ But in reply, she 
said, ‘‘ I neither will nor can be made better, for I seek 
to do no good thing; from my childhood up to the present 
I have always been given to wickedness.’”’ Thereupon 
St. Samson properly said, ‘‘ I implore Almighty God that 
thou do harm no longer; but so soon as thou art utterly 
abandoned,! in that hour thou must die.’’ And at the 
conclusion of the prayer that malignant woman, sud- 
denly giving a violent throb in her left side, fell to the 
ground and was dead. 

XXVIII. Then St. Samson returning to his brother, 
whom he had left half dead on the scene of the disaster, 
found him lying almost dead, and, when he had carefully 
examined his breast, he found just a remnant of the 
breath of life in him: then indeed, following the example 
of Helizeus, placing his mouth on his mouth and the rest 
of his limbs on his several limbs and weeping, he humbly 
besought God that He would deign so far to restore his 
brother to health that he should not suffer damage of 
conscience on his account, inasmuch as he was obedient 
to him in that work of charity. And, God giving strength 


1 7. e., incapable of conversion. 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL = 33 


through him, not more than an hour and a half afterwards 
the brother, half dead, rose up whole as it had been from 
sleep. 

XXIX. In short, the brother was full of gratitude } 
towards him, because, owing to St. Samson, his body 
was not pierced through by the three-bladed lance of 
the malignant woman. So, encouraging the brother not 
to be afraid, they praised God and pursued together the 
journey which they had begun, and at length on the third 
day arrived at the place whither they went. And they 
found Amon, the father of St. Samson, surrounded by 
his neighbours ill in bed. Amon, however, when he 
saw them coming into the house, was very glad and said, 
“Behold the succour of my body and soul which God 
has deigned to show me in a dream.’ And forthwith, 
having turned them all out of doors, his mother only 
remained with those three. There were Samson himself 
and his deacon and his father and mother. Without 
more ado Amon himself, craving their indulgence, in the 
presence of the three already mentioned, confessed in 
their midst a principal mortal sin, which he had kept 
hidden within himself, and vowed that, from that very 
day until his death, he would serve God with all his 
heart, his wife especially supporting him in his resolve. 
He found strength to shave his head that same hour, 
his wife, as I have said, very strongly urging him and 
saying to him, “‘Let not only me and thee, as is meet 
and right, serve God, but let us link together all our 
children in the service of God and let all that is ours 
become wholly God’s.””’ Then Amon himself said, ‘‘ Let 
it be done according to thy word: therefore all things 
whatsoever God hath given to me, nay, to thee, up till 
now, I this day willingly offer all to Him.” And so, 
when his five brothers along with his sister, who made 

1 gratia. 


34 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


the sixth and was quite as yet a young child, were come, 
on this wise after a short pause he returned answer: 
“My brothers indeed are good and have been given up 
to God, but that little girl whom you see and have in 
your keeping has been given to earthly desires; never- 
theless, cherish her, for she isa human being.” When the 
men who had come hither heard this they greatly mar- 
velled and dared not ask him anything concerning this 
amazing verdict. 

XXX. Accordingly, when Amon’s head was shaved 
and his wife received into the order of widowhood, which 
for a long time she had desired, and when all their sub- 
stance had been divided and the larger portion given for 
the use of the poor, and the smaller left for their own use, 
for they were possessed of abundant means, Amon’s 
brother, on beholding this, together with his wife and 
their three sons, by a like venture and a like triumph, on 
one and the same day, were won to Christ, for their 
mother herself also very gladly received the blessing of 
widowhood. When all these, therefore, had been 
established in good works and provision had been 
made for founding monasteries, St. Samson, together 
with his father and his uncle, certainly a happy com- 
pany of four men, began to pursue their journey in 
peace. 

XXXI. But now that they had started on the journey 
his mother, they say, spoke her thoughts privately to 
him and said, ‘‘ The monasteries which, at thy suggestion, 
are to be founded and the churches which are to be built, 
not only do I desire, but lovingly embrace, and inasmuch 
as the time of the intended promise concerning thee 
draws nigh, we hope, with God’s help, our churches are 
to be consecrated by thee.’”’ Then he, as if modestly 
smiling and assenting “some time” with his hand, 
dismissed her with his blessing and left in company 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 35 


with his friends,! who were going back by a way other 
than that by which they had come. And he never 
ceased to urge those novices by warning and exhortation, 
and explained sweetly and spiritually the parables of the 
Old and New Testaments. 

XXXII. Now while they pushed forward on their 
journey Amon, who was in front of them, saw a path, 
and around the path the ground as if it had been burnt 
with fire, and a certain track as if a slender tree had been 
dragged through the burnt grass; and at first, in sooth, 
he trembled and pointed it out to his brother who was 
following him, saying, ‘“‘ Behold, brother, the serpent of 
which we have heard from our parents is in this wood, 
and it is ahead of us, and, unless I am mistaken, it is not 
far away from us.’”’ And his brother, with very joyful 
countenance, answered and said, ‘‘ Fear not, brother, for 
already all our weapons are safe with God.’ St. Samson, 
nevertheless, carefully observing the words of each, 
began to speak on this wise: “‘ Whence has sprung the 
discussion among you?”’ Amon answered, “ Thou 
seest, elect of God, lo! a serpent has preceded us.”’ 
St. Samson, however, with quiet mind, reassured them 
that they should not fear, and thus cheerfully spoke: 
“ Put your trust in Him who said,? ‘ If ye have faith as a 
grain of mustard seed ye shall say to this mountain : 
Remove hence, and it shall remove, and nothing shall 
be impossible to you.’ Therefore be steadfast and wait 
for me here until I return to you, praying and keeping 
still in this matter, whatsoever you may hear.’ Never- 
theless, while they were seating themselves and he was 
proceeding further, his uncle began to follow after him, 
saying unto him, “ Elect of God, it is better that thou 
shouldest not go alone, allow me therefore to go with 
thee.’’ And he answered and said to him, “ Nay, I go 


1 comites. 2 St. Matt. xvii, 20. 


36 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


not alone, for God is with me; do ye, however, sit here, 
as I have already said, until I return to you in triumph.” 
He, in fact, swiftly bearing north, saw afar off a fire- 
spitting serpent which gave forth a rustling sound over 
the dreary wilderness, and he, in the first place, lifting 
up his voice in the song of the psalm, repeated, ‘‘ The 
Lord is my Light and my salvation,” etc.; the serpent 
both hearing and scenting him, hissing and foaming, 
twisted its head to the place where its tail should be. 
Then he, as if he saw merely a little snake, ran up to it. 
That serpent nevertheless, with a bite, seizing hold of a 
lump of earth flung it very nearly in his face as he came 
near and then, when it saw him boldly coming on, and 
above all the power of God fencing him round, sent forth 
a vast and awful hissing as if it was being slaughtered 
with a sword, and afterwards trembling, gathered itself 
up into a ball as it gnawed its tail with its savage teeth. 
St. Samson, however, quietly singing to himself the 
chosen and accustomed psalm ? which begins, ‘‘ O give 
thanks unto the God of gods,’’ boldly made the sign of a 
circle around the serpent over against himself, planting 
within it the emblem of the cross which he bore, and 
said, ‘““ Advance now as far as thou art allowed.’ Then, 
having called his companions, he said, “‘ Come, brothers, 
and see the works of the Lord, that faith in faith may be 
made stronger.’” Now, when they came, they saw the 
serpent rather slowly uncoil itself and creep along the 
ground and round in a circle as it made for the place 
where the saint’s staff was fixed. Again and again it 
did the same thing, but never was it able to raise aloft its 
head beyond the boundary. Moreover, in the meanwhile, 
St. Samson cheered them with sweet evangelical words, 
strengthening them in faith and saying, “‘ Those who 


1 Ps. xxvii. 2 Ps. cxxxvi, 2. 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 37 


believe with a true faith in the Creator ought not to fear 
the creature,’ and, uttering many other things of like 
nature throughout the whole day, he taught them words 
of edification. Then, observing the day drawing to its 
close, St. Samson called out to the serpent and said, 
“ We have a long journey, but thou hast no longer to live, 
therefore I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to 
die in our presence at this very hour.’”’ At once the 
serpent stood on its tail, and raising its head aloft, and 
absurdly making a bow of itself, cast forth all its venom 
and was dead. 

XXXII. Then these men, all of them together, 
gave thanks to Almighty God and resumed their journey, 
and, by good fortune, on the third day, having God for 
their companion, they reached the monastery. And 
there, the above-mentioned Bishop Dubricius was, to 
be sure, staying in his own house, the Forty Days of 
Easter having already begun, and hearing of St. 
Samson and his companions he was very glad; for it 
was that bishop’s custom to spend almost the whole of 
the Forty Days of Easter in that retreat;? and he 
courteously and lovingly afforded encouragement both 4 
to his father and his uncle. 

XXXIV. Now on a certain day the holy Father 
Dubricius summoned to his presence that deacon who 
had made the journey with St. Samson and closely 
questioned him of all which had happened ® to them on 
the journey. The holy deacon therefore related all 
things in order, not omitting that act of cowardice which 
befell him in the way, of which he gave him a full account. 


1 insula, 

® Quadragesima Pasche, 7.e., the forty days before Easter. 
See Bishop Maclean, Ancient Church Orders, p. 132, and Mgr. 
Duchesne, Christian Worship (S.P.C.K.), p. 242, n. 

3 insula. 4 for ez read ef. 5 eventus. 


38 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


At the bishop’s request he humbly told him everything 
that had taken place and concealed nothing whatever 
from him. All these things were a cause of wonderment 
to the holy St. Dubricius, but he himself knowing that 
St. Samson was endowed by God, in that hour he 
bestowed upon him the office of cellarer,} saying unto 
him, ‘‘ I ordain and above all I desire in the Lord that 
all the goods which abound in this storehouse by the 
gift of God, shall be administered and shared by thee.” 
Thereupon, acting in accordance with the old man’s 
bidding, for the sake of obedience, he did all things 
according to God; for at every moment he seemed 
to dispense everything in the name of God and of 
charity. 

XXXV. But the devil, who never ceases to molest 
the human race, inflamed with the torches of envy a 
certain brother who had been cellarer before him; and 
he, in disparagement of St. Samson, said that by ex- 
travagance Samson had made away with everything 
they had and, in particular, that he had greedily emptied 
the jars filled with honey. This wicked charge came to 
the ears of the bishop, but the bishop, desiring to sally 
forth secretly to the store-room, sent a boy the hour 
before he came to St. Samson to say that he might expect 
him in the store-house. St. Samson, however, by the 
Spirit’s revealing, knew the reason, and forthwith 
entering the store-room, made the sign of the cross on 
the jars, and when the bishop came they were all found 
full and untouched. The bishop, however, wondering 
at these things, unquestionably believed Samson to be 
full of the Holy Spirit and adjudged him worthy to be 
set over the others in a higher office. 

XXXVI. Indeed not long afterwards an unexpected 
thing happened. One dark night the same Piro took a 

1 See Chapter XVI. 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 39 


solitary stroll into the grounds of the monastery, and 
what is more serious, so it is said, owing to stupid 
intoxication, fell headlong into a deep pit. Uttering 
one piercing cry for help, he was dragged out of the hole 
by the brothers in a dying condition, and died in the 
night from his adventure. And it came to pass when 
the bishop heard of it, he made all the brothers to remain 
just where they were and spend the night together; and 
then, having assembled a council, after Mattins, all the 
men of this monastery, with one accord, chose St. 
Samson to be abbat. And when he submitted (to be 
abbat), though not willingly, he trained the brothers 
gently to the proper rule. And while he held the 
primacy in this place, which was not more than a year 
and a half, the brothers regarded him as a hermit rather 
than as a member of an order of monks. And conse- 
quently, amidst feasts of plenty and flowing bowls, he 
made a point of fasting always from food and drink. Of 
vigils there is no need to say anything, inasmuch, as [ 
have already stated, he never at any time allowed his 
body to rest in bed. | 

XXXVII. Now it came to pass that certain dis- 
tinguished Irishmen, on their way from Rome, arrived 
at his dwelling, and, when he had carefully and thoroughly 
examined them, and had found them to be learned men, 
with the bishop’s sanction, he determined to accompany 
them to theirown country. And there he stayed a short 
while and by God’s help practised many virtues and was 
revered by the religious of that province as an angel of 
God. And, by him, God gave sight to many who were 
blind, and cleansed many who were leprous, and cast out 
devils, and saved very many from the error of their way ; 
nay, rather, (he did) all things. Nevertheless, let us 
bring to light one out of many as it is related, which 
God wrought by him in this country. 

F 


40 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


XXXVIII. For, as he tarried in the citadel 4 awaiting 
fair weather for his return to Britain, on a certain day a 
fair wind having sprung up from the north and the ship 
being now ready, when the sailor men made all speed to 
get under weigh and urged him to get on board, forth- 
with St. Samson replied, ‘“‘ When we sail we have one 
duty first, to ask God’s permission.’’ But the sailor 
men, roused to displeasure, with one consent determined 
not to wait for him, and, as they were now hoisting the 
sail, he himself gently spoke to them as follows: ‘‘ Go 
in peace; to-day, God willing, you will return and to- 
morrow we will sail together.’ Now, as they were 
leaving, behold, a certain man, sent from the nearest 
monastery, prayed him that he would go to the 
monastery, saying, ‘‘ The devil has possessed our abbat 
and I have left him bound while making diligent inquiry 
concerning thee, whether thou hast already left for thy 
own country.” Now St. Samson, already knowing the 
matter was from God, set forth on the journey with him 
and found the demoniac brother bound, and, as he drew 
near to the threshold of the house in which the demoniac 
was, the latter saw him and cried with a loud voice and 
said, ‘‘ Behold him whom I have ever sought until this 
day, behold him for whom I have ever waited, behold 
him against whom I cannot contend.” When he had 
said these things he fell back on the bed as one dead, 
and while St. Samson prayed, the possessed one, in his 
bed, by God’s help, recovered his reason, and gaining 
health, equally of body and of mind, through that elect 
servant of God, gave his monastery with all its substance 
to Samson and, dedicating himself to the service of God, 
followed St. Samson to this side of the sea and was always 

1 Arce. Many MSS. read Arce Etyi, which Prof. Loth has 


identified with Dun Etair, the promontory of Howth at the 
extremity of Dublin Bay. 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 41 


hiscompanion. Of his good deeds and good conversation 
after his fall I know full well, but his name I do not 
know; nevertheless, from letters already noted, sent 
to me from across the seas 1 concerning him, I hold it 
certain that he retired to the monastery of Penetal and 
therein led a very good and strenuous life. But let us 
continue what we have begun. 

XXXIX. When he had blessed and settled the 
brothers in the monastery until such time as he should, 
according to the will of God, send them an abbat, St. 
Samson, surely enlightened by God, left to join the ship. 
And it came to pass that, while he was going with his 
companion to the port, he found in that very hour the 
ship returning from her voyage under a contrary wind 
and making for port. Then were they very glad and 
clave together by turns, and on either side they related 
the things which had transpired, and stayed there that 
night, hoping there would be favourable weather in the 
morning, which afterwards proved to be true. For when 
night was over, at daybreak, with a fair wind, they 
proceeded on a prosperous voyage with God as their 
helmsman, and on the second day they reached that 
island in which he had previously dwelt. And he found 
that his father and uncle in that monastery were higher 
in the service of God and more praiseworthy than almost 
all and in advance of the rest of those who lived there 
according to rule, and thereupon he gave repeated thanks 
to Almighty God. 

XL. And when the brothers wished him once more to 
take up his abode with them he consented not, but 
sought to find a suitable desert, and when the two 
brothers above mentioned besought him that they 
might always live with him—both indeed were good men, 
but Umbraphel perhaps in some small measure seemed 

1 7.e., from Great Britain. 


42 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


to excel—Samson névertheless said to them that it was 
not allowable for them to be guided by their carnal 
feelings towards him. ‘‘On the contrary,’ said his 
uncle, “ knowest thou, elect of God, that at thy instance 
we have forsaken all carnal affections’ and therefore, 
because thou art spiritual, we ought to follow thee not 
after a carnal manner but after a spiritual.’’ Then St. 
Samson, prudent in spirit, said to them, ‘‘ Thou, indeed, 
brother Umbraphel; oughtest to be a pilgrim”; and 
Umbraphel said, ‘‘ Thanks be to God.”” And afterwards 
St. Samson, far-sighted in spirit, when his uncle had been 
full speedily ordained to the office of priest, sent him 
with his blessing as abbat to the monastery, given to 
him by the before-mentioned brother, which he had left 
in Ireland. And he caused Amon to come with him, 
along with the brother of the envious priest, besides the 
before-mentioned Irish brother, four of them altogether, 
to a very desolate wilderness, and, having discovered a 
very delightful castle near the river Severn, and in it a 
spring of very sweet water, he set about making a 
dwelling for his brothers, while he prayed that the Lord 
would be pleased to show him some underground cave, 
and the Lord graciously fulfilled that most faithful 
prayer. 

XLI. For, on a certain day, as he wandered through 
the forest he found a very spacious and very lonely cave, 
and its mouth being situated towards the east, he 
embraced it affectionately as though it had been given 
by God for a dwelling. And after seven days’ fast from 
food and drink he found himself indeed with one dry 
loaf of bread, but he had no water at all wherewith to 
quench his thirst. But it came to pass at length, on 
the seventh day, about the third hour, while, hungry 
and thirsty, he continued earnestly in prayer and his 
face touched the ground bent as for a favour, he perceived 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 43 


that the earth was wet and, driving (into it) the spike 
of his staff,1 a spring of sweet water rose up; and 
thither, afterwards, for a whole month all bread was 
brought to him by his brothers; and up to the time when 
I was in Britain the place, in which the three before- 
mentioned brothers were, was always reverenced with 
great devotion, and also an oratory constructed 2 
therein, where St. Samson was wont to come every 
Sunday to sing mass and for Christ’s communion. 

XLII. Then a synod having been summoned, when 
the older men inquired where St. Samson lay hid, a 
certain man came forth and said that he would be found 
at that cave wherein St. Samson was leading a heavenly 
life, and also at that castle whereunto St. Samson was 
wont to come to sing Mass with these three brothers, 
who were observing in it the rule of penitence 3 to God. 
Thereupon they all, with one consent, addressed a letter of 
summons,‘ (and this letter I have heard read,) that he 
must not work for himself alone, forasmuch as they most 
certainly already knew that he would be profitable to 
many, and they eagerly and lovingly urged him to come 
to the synod. Consequently, when he had carefully 
read that letter, he came, though not with willing steps,°® 
to the synod with them, having only one of the three for 
a companion. But when the elders saw him with a 
countenance exceeding joyful, as if they beheld an angel 
of God, they received St. Samson with reverent greeting 
and appointed him abbat against his will in the monastery 
which, it is said, had been founded by St. German. 
And they had in that same place an accustomed day, 
when they came together for ordaining bishops, that 
is, the day of the blessed Apostle Peter's Chair 
(22 February). 


1 bacult. 2 compositum. 8 placabilem, pleasing. 
“ indiculum. > cursu. 


44 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


XLIII. And it came to pass that, as that yearly 
festival drew near and the bishops looked forward to the 
usual gathering, St. Samson saw a wonderful vision. 
On a certain night he beheld himself clothed in white 
apparel surrounded by closest crowds of delightful 
beings, and three distinguished bishops, wearing golden 
crowns ! on their heads, clothed with vestments of pure 
silk and most beautiful, stand in front of him and urge 
him to enter the church together with them, for the 
purpose of prayer. Then, when he had entered the 
church, as he himself subsequently related, he earnestly 
and humbly asked the names of these three and received 
this reply from them: they were Peter, and James the 
Lord’s brother, and John the Evangelist; the reason of 
their coming indeed was that they were sent ? by the Lord 
Jesus Christ to confirm him as pre-eminently the chosen 
priest of the Lord. Then, when he was fully ordained 
bishop by them according to the manner, and had received 
their blessings, they departed, and he himself, awaking 
from sleep, perceived by the Spirit that he was already 
made a high priest. But when those bishops came, they 
set apart, against the appointed and accustomed day, 
two among them to be ordained, and they wished to 
ordain a third, in accordance with a custom handed down 
of old time, but were ignorant as yet who he might be. 
And on the following night an angel of God appeared to 
the holy Father Dubricius in a dream, as he himself 
afterwards was wont to relate, and assured him that 
St. Samson was to be a high priest and told him that he 
was pleasing to God. St. Dubricius, to be sure, for joy of 

1 See Warren, Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church, pp. 
I ro-1 20, The Serbian bishop wears a mitre in the form of a crown, 

. heer tede e Duine thinks perfunctus may be an erroneous 


reading for perunctus, ‘‘ anointed.’”’—Questions d’Hagiographie, 
p. 61. 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 45 


this angelic conference, caused all the best advisers of 
the congregation 1 to be awakened and to come together 
into one place, joyfully crying aloud to them what 
he had seen and heard, and what he had hitherto 2 
_kept back in his mind; and that they must ordain him 
priest, since he knew full well the mighty works which 
the Lord had already wrought by him. 

XLIV. Then all the members of the Council,? without 
any division, readily supported the proposal that he 
should be made a bishop. When St. Samson knew this 
he related fully to Father Dubricius the dream as he 
himself saw it; and when the wise men in their turn had 
consulted together, though they believed beyond doubt 
that by this miracle he was already made a true bishop, 
they nevertheless determined that, for the confirmation 
of faith, he must be placed in the episcopal chair and be 
confirmed with the two others. And so, as he was sitting 
in the seat of honour, all who stood by saw a dove, sent 
from heaven, pay the wonted tribute and stand over him 
all the time unmoved until he was quite through the 
ceremony 4 and was ordained bishop; not as the manner 
of birds is, disturbed from its place by the commotion 
of the bystanders and by the ministers as they ran to 
and fro through the church. Moreover, as he was 
singing Mass on the same day in the presence of them 
all, it was apparent to Father Dubricius and to two 
distinguished monks that there proceeded from his 
mouth and nostrils as it had been fire. And, what is 
greater than all these things, from that day when he 
became a presbyter until his happy death, when he sang 
Mass, the angels ® of God ever became holy ministers of 


1 Chapter of monks. 2 jam, or what he already kept. 

3 consiliavt. 4 pbevfuncitus perfecte. 

5 The ministration of angels at the Eucharist is referred to in 
Apost. Const. (Syria, civca 375) and in the Test. of Our Lord 


46 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


the altar and of sacrifice along with him, and often broke 
the oblation with their hands though he alone saw it.* 
XLV. Thereupon wonderful things are followed by 
things more wonderful and earth’s cries are silenced 
where Heaven speaks. For on a certain night when he 
was preparing to sing the Paschal Mass and, following a 
custom of his, after partaking only of the blessed bread,’ 
had determined to stand wakeful till dawn at the altar 
by himself alone, nay, rather, with God also with him, 
as he was praying on that very spot in ecstasy, he lost 
consciousness altogether, and as he stood there, he saw a 
mighty man shining with great splendour come and stand 
by him, and at first, as I have heard he afterwards 
related to his father,? he himself was terrified by the 


(Asia Minor, ante 375). See Maclean, Church Orders (pp. 40, 149, 
163-4). In the Mozarabic Missal the prayer is as follows: 
‘““ Adesto, adesto, Jesu, bone pontifex, in medio nostri, sicut 
fuisti in medio discipulorum tuorum; sanctifica hanc oblitionem 
ut sanctificata sumamus per manus sancti angeli tui, sancte 
domine ac redemptor eterne.’’ Then follow the words of 
institution. Duchesne considers that the above Adesto cannot 
be primitive, inasmuch as in the Merovingian Missals of the 
seventh and eighth centuries the Vere Sanctus always precedes 
immediately the words of institution. The Roman Missal runs, 
““ supplices te rogamus, omnipotens Deus: Jube hec preferri per 
manus sanctt angelt tut in sublime altave tuum,” etc. (Duchesne, 
Christian Worship, pp. 181, 216). The supplices te rogamus 
does duty for the epiclesis of the Greek Church. It will be noticed 
that in the Mozarabic rite the angel is to bring the sanctificata 
down to us and in the Roman to carry the sanctificata up to God’s 
altar in heaven. The former is the Greek and the latter the 
aoe conception of angelic ministration. See Duchesne, 
£182. 

1 For joint consecration see Warren, pp. 128-9. In the 
Roman rite the fraction of the Oblata was performed (when the 
oe was the celebrant) by the deacons. See Duchesne, pp. 
185-6. 

2 eulogium probably = eulogig, unconsecrated bread corre- 
sponding to the pain bénit given in French churches at the present 
day. Duchesne distinguishes between this and the agape. 
See Christian Worship, p. 49,n. Also see Maclean, Church Orders, 
p. 47. Also see Warren, p. 139. 

3 patri. 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 47 


immensity of this apparition; and he heard a word of 
comfort for him not to fear and which said to him: 
“ Be of good cheer, saint of God, and play the man, for 
God holds thee dear and true; now therefore listen 
without fear to my words. For indeed I have been sent 
to thee by my Lord; of a truth thou oughtest to tarry 
no longer in this country, for thou art ordained to be 
a pilgrim, and beyond the sea thou wilt be very great in 
the Church and worthy of the highest priestly dignity.” 
When he had related these and many like things and had 
bidden him farewell, on the arrival of the brothers for 
the morning chapter, the angel gently withdrew and left ; 
and he, accepting the omen with all the eagerness of 
faith and keeping it carefully in his mind, when he had 
finished the office of the Paschal Celebration, forthwith, 
amid the regrets and tears of the whole congregation, 
directed his course towards this side of the Severn Sea. 
On his way, moreover, he goes to see his mother and his 
aunt and consecrates the churches which they have 
already built ; and he excommunicates his sister, having 
found that she has now left her mother, and, further, 
close gathered in adulterous embraces, has joined with 
others in defying her and that she herself still persists 
in her evil courses; moreover, he thankfully rejoices 
with their mothers over his brothers and cousins who are 
leading a noble and a catholic life; he sets afoot much 
good work in those places for the building of them up 
in spiritual virtues; he sets free from disease many 
among them who are sick whether in body or in mind, 
and, freely bestowing the power of his benediction upon 
them all, with a favourable wind, after a happy passage, 
arrives, attended by the before-mentioned three and 
many others, at a monastery which is called Docco. 
XLVI. Now when the brothers who were in this 
place hear of his arrival, and especially of his request 


48 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


that some wise man among them should come forth, 
straightway they direct the wisest of them, Juniavus by 
name—who himself was also named amongst them, in the 
British language, Light—to confer with him. For he 
also was divinely inspired and knew many things con- 
cerning the future. Moreover, when he had come to 
the place where Samson was, he addressed him with 
respectful greeting; and giving thanks to Almighty 
God for his arrival and sitting down beside him as an 
equal, he humbly inquired of him where he was going. 
But when St. Samson told him the cause of his journey 
and asked whether he might stay with them for a little 
time, St. Juniavus, prudent in spirit, thus gently gave 
reply, saying, ““O most loving father, by a servant of 
God it is a thing to be wished that he should walk in the 
way by which thou goest, for in the Gospel God praises 
him who is content to be a pilgrim for His sake, never- 
theless the thing which thou requirest, that thou 
wouldest be grateful to stay with us, is not convenient 
lest thou, who art better than we, shouldest be con- 
demned by us, for example, who are less worthy, and, 
what is more proper, lest we should be denounced of thee 
by reason of the merits which we lack. For I wish you 
to know this, that we come short of our former practice; 
in fact, it behoves thee to pursue thy way in peace or 
else, once at least, before thou shalt have crossed the 
Channel and reached Europe, to give some outward 
sign, in order that by thee, to this extent, before thou 
art absent in the body, the power of the Lord may be 
made manifest in the country before thee.” 

XLVII. Now when St. Samson heard these things he 
was astonished at his doctrine and perceived that the 
Holy Spirit spoke through him, and so, sending away his 
ship at that same place, he arranged for a cart to convey 
his holy vessels and books, and harnessed two horses to 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL § 49 


his chariot which he had brought with him from Ireland, 
and with the Lord for his companion he arranged his 
journey so as to completely traverse the country. A 
veteran traveller, he eagerly sought what they call the 
Southern Sea, and which ! leads to Europe; and, witha 
band of brothers in front of him, likewise others following 
behind and he himself alone, as was meet, in their midst, 
he never ceased to offer supplication to God by day or 
by night. 

XLVIII. Now it came to pass, on a certain day, as he 
was on a journey through a certain district which they 
call Tricurius,? he heard, on his left hand to be exact, 
men worshipping a certain idol * after the custom of the 
Bacchantes, by means of a play in honour of an image. 
Thereupon he beckoned to his brothers that they should 
stand still and be silent while he himself, quietly 
descending from his chariot to the ground and standing 
upon his feet and observing those who worshipped the 
idol, saw in front of them, resting on the summit of a 
certain hill, an abominable image. On this hill I myself 
have been and have adored and with my hand have 
traced the sign of the cross which St. Samson with his 
own hand carved by means of an iron instrument on a 
standing stone. When St. Samson saw it (the image), 
selecting two only of the brothers to be with him, he 
hastened quickly towards them, their chief, Guedianus, 
standing at their head, and gently admonished them that 
they ought not to forsake the one God who created all 
things and worship an idol. And when they pleaded as 
excuse that it was not wrong to celebrate the mysteries 
of their progenitors in a play, some being furious, some 
mocking, but some of saner mind strongly urging him 
to go away, the power of God was made clearly manifest. 


1 guodque.. 7 1.e., the Hundred of Trigg in Cornwall. 
3 pbhanum, “ idol.’’—Duine, 


50 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


For a certain boy, driving horses at full speed, fell from 
a swift horse to the ground, and twisting his head as he 
fell headlong, remained just as he was flung, little else 
than a lifeless corpse. 

XLIX. Then St. Samson, speaking to the tribesmen 
as they wept around the body, said, ‘‘ You see that your 
image is not able to give aid to the dead man. But if 
you will promise that you will utterly destroy this idol 
and no longer adore it, I, with God’s assistance, will 
bring the dead man to life.” And they consenting, he 
commanded them to withdraw a little further off, and, 
after praying earnestly over the lifeless man for two 
hours, he delivered him, who had been dead, alive and 
sound before them all. Seeing this, they all with one 
accord, along with the afore-mentioned chief, prostrated 
themselves at St. Samson’s feet and utterly destroyed the 
idol. 

L. Then the far-sighted chief made them all come and 
ratify their allegiance by baptism at the hands of St. 
Samson, and, as he came with them, he praised God and 
said, ‘‘ Behold, an angel of God sent from heaven has 
come to rescue us from our error; but even now we have 
great anxiety of mind.’ St. Samson said, ‘‘ What is 
that?’ The chief replied, ‘We have a certain fair 
land held in occupation by a poisonous and very vicious 
serpent; in fact, this serpent lives in a cave impossible 
of approach, and it is destroying nearly two villages and 
allows } no man to dwell there.’”’ When he heard this, 
St. Samson boldly said, “‘ In the name of the Lord let us 
go, nothing doubting; if indeed thou believest, thou shalt 
see with thine eyes in this serpent the wonderful works of 
God.” But in fact without hesitation and with one 
accord they went away with St. Samson; moreover, 
that young man who had been lately restored to life, 

1 licet. 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 51 


having promised to become a clerk, followed him. And 
so, with St. Samson, the boy recently chosen preceded 
the army and furnished it with a leader all the way; and 
when the day broke, on the second day they saw with 
their eyes that awful cave where the serpent was. Then 
the boy inquired, ‘‘ Look! Elect of God, do you see the 
cave across the river where the serpent is?” But he, 
trusting in the Lord and commanding the army and his 
monks likewise to stay where they were, alone—nay, 
God was with him—crossed the river to the other side, 
his boy following him, and together they came to the 
entrance of the awful cave. St. Samson, moreover, as 
he looked upon the boy who followed him with a gentle 
smile, spoke as follows: “‘ Boy, be of good cheer and play 
the man,” and the boy said, ‘Whom shall I fear, 
excellency? God is with thee.’ And then, ordering 
him to stand a little way off, he boldly entered the cave. 
The serpent, however, as soon as it saw him, trembled 
exceedingly and was disposed to turn itself and bite its 
tail with passion; but he, quickly seizing the linen 
girdle that was around him, without more ado, slipped 
it on its neck, and dragging the beast near to him, flung 
it from a certain height and charged it in the name of 
Jesus Christ not to live any longer. Now, when the boy 
saw these things, he rushed in wild haste to the army and 
to the chief, and related to them all the things in order 
which he had seen. But they had no sooner heard than 
they all, without delay, quietly came to him and wished 
him to receive apostolic honour. He, however, was not 
willing to accept anything great from them, but, in 
honour of the power which had been displayed, he 
commanded his own men to found a monastery near the 
cave; yet he himself indeed, in the meanwhile, led a 
heavenly life in the cave, ever giving himself to fasting 
and to prayer. 


52 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


LI. But I think silence ought not to be preserved 
concerning that miracle which in this same cave God 
showed on his account. For on a certain day when, by 
reason of thirst, after excessive faintness arising from 
fasting and thirst, he prayed to the Lord that He would 
deign to give him some of the water of comfort, forthwith 
the Lord of heaven, at his prayer, satisfied his desire and 
he became aware of a brisk shower of water, as from a 
cloud, falling from the stony lintel of the cave and, near 
the cave, flowing over a certain rock at great speed. 
Then in truth, when he saw this, he greatly rejoiced 
because of it, and perceived thereby that, through the 
Spirit, God + had given help in answer to his prayer. 
And up to this day that stream has never ceased to flow 
either by day or by night. 

LII. Then, when he had received his cousin—him 
already mentioned at the beginning of this work—and 
admitted him to the office of the diaconate, after giving 
instructions to his father for the government of that 
monastery by them built and completed, and having 
finished the works which God wrought by him in those 
parts, with God for his guide, he directed his course 
towards this side of the sea, in accordance with his 
promise. And with very many monks and above all 
with that deacon of whom we have sufficiently spoken 
already, as companions, after a favourable passage they 
reached their desired port in Europe. But, as they were 
landing from the ship, they saw a hut of no great size 
standing not far from the harbour, and, as St. Samson 
drew near to it, he saw on the threshold of the little 
dwelling an individual? making lamentation and ever 
gazing towards the sea. In fact St. Samson, directing 
his steps towards him, inquired of him the reason of 
this; the individual for his part said to him, “It is 

1 Deum. 2 Or “‘ One, Privatus.”’ 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL = 53 


now three days and as many nights since I waited in this 
harbour the coming of the helper from beyond the sea 
whom God promised me.’ St. Samson said unto him, 
“What is thy trouble?’’ He said, “I have in this 
house a leprous wife, moreover, a demoniac daughter, 
and I had the promise of their cure in this harbour.” 
St. Samson, to be sure, immediately entered within the 
house, and pouring forth prayer over both of the sick 
women, with God’s help delivered them safe and sound 
before them all. And, going forth from thence, having 
God for his guide, he discovered a most suitable spot 
in these parts and founded a famous monastery which 
to this day, by an appropriate use of language, is called 
Dol. From that place he planted the seed of many 
works of a wonderful character and founded many 
monasteries throughout almost the entire province, 
which, if all of them were described, one by one, we 
should be led to exceed the task we undertook. 

LIII. Nevertheless I do not think one, the greatest 
and the most wonderful work of all, ought to be passed 
over? in silence, which, in this (country of) Europe, 
God wrought by his hands. For when he had learnt 
that all the districts were in direst distress, and had made 
most diligent inquiry of them as to the cause of it, they 
tell him that an unjust and unprincipled stranger has 
come to be judge over the land and that their ruler, 
Jonas by name, who holds their land by hereditary 
custom, has been handed over to death as the result of 
wicked bribes wickedly given into the hands of the king 
and of the queen, his greatest bane; and, moreover, that 
his son Judual has been delivered to captivity and to 
death, but up to the present they asserted that he was 
alive. When, indeed, St. Samson heard these things, 
by the providence of God, he was moved with compassion 

1 pretereundum, 


54 ,.THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


and promptly set forth to go to King Hiltbert on Judual’s 
account, having Christ always and in all things for his 
companion. 

LIV. And it came to pass when he had entered within 
the palace, God, as we may suppose, exercising power on 
his behalf, he found a certain great chief harassed by 
suffering at the hands of a demon; and, when he was 
aware of this, St. Samson came to him and, having taken 
oil, blessed it and fully anointed him on the head, face 
and breast while many watched him; and, with God’s 
help, he who had been sick was made perfectly whole. 
And immediately news was carried to the king about him 
and the miracle which God had wrought by him. 

LV. When he wished to talk with the king and had 
discussed the matter of the same Judual, that he might 
be sent away to him, an insolent refusal was brought. 
In effect, they said that he would never see ? him alive. 
St. Samson, however, very gently and yet doggedly con- 
tinued to urge the plea he had begun; they more dis- 
gracefully refused. Now when St. Samson saw that 
his words produced no effect upon them, being angry, he 
was disposed to depart from them; and threatening to 
decimate them through their progeny if they refused to 
give him the man he sought, as he was departing full of 
anger, that chief from whom the demon had _ been 
expelled, with many others, urged upon the king that a 
saint of God ought not to be insulted. Then the king, 
with the full consent of his companions, wished to 
appease Samson. The wicked queen, continuing still 
in her wickedness and shamelessly bawling out to the 
saint in vile language, which is not fit to be repeated, by 
means of a trick of wicked contrivance, requested him to 
partake of food with the king before he was reconciled to 
him. Then St. Samson, not with a ready will but for 


1 videre. 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 55 


convention’s sake, consented to partake of food with 
them; but the wickec queen, at the devil’s bidding, 
caused them to mix poison in the glass for him and 
ordered it to be carried by her servant to St. Samson 
as he sat} near the king. And so, as the king received 
his own cup and St. Samson made the sign of the Cross 
upon it, the servant brought before him the glass with 
the poison intended for him; then he, surely inspired 
by God, having placed the sign of the Cross on the hand 
of him who held it, split the glass wherein was the evil 
thing into four parts and, spilling the wine over the cup- 
bearer’s hand, crashing cut it to the bone, while many 
looked on. St. Samson, however, as if ina very friendly ? 
manner, said, ‘“‘ It is not meet that a man should drink 
this cup.” And when he had made the accustomed sign 
on the wounded man’s hand he was made whole in the 
presence of them all. 

LVI. Thereupon the king, being confounded, and all 
of them indignant, the queen, always wicked, became 
hardened in her wickedness. And it came to pass, that, 
the king giving his consent, St. Samson purposed to go 
to the place where Judual was. Forthwith that queen 
ordered an unbroken and furious horse to be brought 
from the drove to carry him. When he saw him, 
St. Samson placed the sign of the Cross on the unruly 
steed, and having put the saddle on him he himself 
mounted the horse. And so gentle and timid was the 
horse, that he hardly dared move his foot or to go even 
very slowly, Christ bringing him into subjection to His 
elect. 

LVII. And the queen, herself ever hardening, by 
wicked contrivance seeking to overcome and destroy 
Samson the saint of God, ordered a fierce and angry lion 
to be provoked 3 by its keepers and to be brought loose 


1 sedentt. 2 amite for amice. 8 provocari. 
G 


56 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


and furious to the port over against him, as though they 
were ignorant of what was going on, as St. Samson went 
on his way in front of his companions with his accustomed 
weapons. Now when the lion, fierce and furious, saw 
him making straight for it with fearless steps, losing 
courage, and God fighting against it for His elect, just 
as if it had received a blow in the eyes, it betook itself 
to rapid flight. Then that holy man, very greatly con- 
fused and agitated, with an invocation of the name of 
Christ, discharging after the beast his accustomed 
missiles as if from a spiritual catapult, spoke thus: “I 
charge thee in the name of Jesus Christ, who has given 
power to us to tread underfoot you and things like you, 
that thy terrible power from this day forward may 
never more rise up against the human race, but that, 
expiring swiftly in the presence of all these people, they 
may know and understand that as a servant of Christ I 
have been sent from this! place into that province.” 
When he had finished speaking,? and while many looked 
on, the lion threw himself headlong and that hour was 
dead. Then all these men together with that queen, 
beholding these things, smitten with fear, fell at St. 
Samson’s feet and promised all things according to the 
pleasure of his will. And, lest he should suffer any 
damage, they became surety to him for the afore- 
mentioned Judual. 

LVIII. Then the king was desirous of pleasing 
St. Samson in all things, and when he had received him 
with apostolical honour and promised good concerning 
the above-mentioned Judual, he said humbly, “ Elect of 
God, we have very great anxiety of mind, for there is a 
vile serpent doing great destruction and making desolate 
our country; we have heard concerning thee that thou 
hast been victorious in a case like this, and so, if no harm 

1 for huc read hinc. 2 for vatione read ovatione. 


THECLIFE Ob SP. SAMSON OF DOD.” 57 


might happen to thee, we should like thee to drive it 
away from us.’”’ Thereupon St. Samson unhesitatingly 
said, “‘ Ascertain for me the way (to it) and, trusting in 
God, I will come, in the strength of God, and cast it 
forth.’ Then a certain man, experienced and bold, 
stepped forth to accompany him. Accordingly, leaving 
his companions in the palace with the above-mentioned 
Judual, and choosing only two of his own to be with 
him, he took his journey forthwith, having Christ for his 
companion. Now it came to pass that in due time they 
came to that horrible cave wherein the serpent dwelt. 
When St. Samson knew this he said to his friends, ‘‘ Be 
steadfast and wait here for me until I come back to you.” 
Now while they stayed there, he himself, seeing that he 
had God for his companion, boldly went forth to the 
mouth of the horrible cave, and after fasting, watching 
and praying there, at length called to the serpent in 
the name of Jesus Christ to come to him. And as it 
came ? full of fear, St. Samson seized hold of his mantle 
and bound it round the serpent’s neck, and dragging it 
near to him, while he sang the already mentioned 
accustomed psalm, he ordered it to go to the other side 
of a certain river which is called Sigona (Seine), and 
commanded it to remain there under a certain stone. 
LIX. So when he had returned with his companions 
and was come back to the palace, his companions related 
to the king and all his friends everything they had seen 
concerning the serpent. Then fear and very great 
wonder fell on all, insomuch that no one indeed durst 
offend him any more, even in the smallest matter. 
Accordingly, when St. Samson wished to go back to 
Brittany with Judual, the king willingly consented, and 
when, with the king’s assistance, he had arranged for the 
erection of a splendid monastery in the place 2 whence he 
1 veniente. ® Joco. 


58 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


had expelled the serpent, and with the king’s encourage- 
ment had sent forth brothers to be there and to carry 
on the work, with a favourable wind he set out for 
Lesiat and Angia, islands of the sea; and, those men 
being well known to St. Samson, at his request came with 
one accord with Judual to Brittany. And, on a certain 
day as he was praying and fasting, by his holy inter- 
cession God gave victory to Judual, so that, with one 
blow, he overthrew Commorus the unjust oppressor and 
himself reigned over all Domnonia ? with his offspring. 
So that, finally, that same St. Samson was received with 
very great reverence by the before-mentioned King 
Hiltbert, and all things, whatsoever he wished, he gave 
him not only abundantly, but also willingly and at once, 
freely bestowing both estates and privileges. 

LX. On? the other hand, on a certain occasion when 
he was in his house in Romania, he heard a shocking story 
concerning a serpent which was doing not less mischief 
than the former ones. Thereupon, smitten in con- 
science, he set out for it and, as formerly, dragged it forth 
and cast it into the sea, charging it in the name of Jesus 
Christ to die lest it should do further harm. But how 
many mighty works God did by him on this side and 
beyond the sea, and how much envy and evil-speaking 
he endured, especially at the hands of perverse priests, 
they are past reckoning, and there is no need to search 
them out here one by one. 

LXI. And so, having completed all the mighty works 
which God wrought by him both in Brittany and 
Romania, and having built catholic churches and fenced 
them according to the pattern of his own manner of life, 
being perfect in life and in age, and having in the 
Apostle’s words finished his course, a course good and 


1 See Part If, 13, * In Brittany. 
* This chapter is Sesathiy an Late pene pon, 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL =§ 59 


beyond measure, with all good qualities fully and com- 
pletely adorned, happy in his death, he left his wasted 
body to be embalmed and buried in the sacred mound in 
the monastery at Dol, in hope of the resurrection to 
eternal life, whilst his happy soul went full of bliss to 
Christ; and the brothers at the hour of his departure 
heard the hymns of angelic (choirs). And we have 
the token of his felicity with us, it is evident, in these 
signs which, by him, God shows forth day by day. 
Amen. 


Here it endeth in the Name of our Lord. Up to this 
point we have corrected it just as we wished to do. 


PART II 


I. Our Lord Jesus Christ liveth for ever. Almost 
at the close of my life, the life of an ignorant and very 
dull man, yet also near the end of a work moderately 4 
ornate for his sake of whom I write, that most holy 
St. Samson; while the shallow and tiny bark of my 
inexperience traverses as it were the boundless and 
abysmal expanse of some great sea, with stricken heart 
indeed, but with my kind God to guide with heavenly 
light for the sailing and for (the directing) of my simple 
and uninformed tongue, we give thanks to Almighty 
God because He has at length been pleased to hand 
down so important a work, concerning so holy and 
renowned a man, by me a Sinner, one in all respects 
unworthy, with a catholic and truthful pen. Moreover, 
for myself, who hope for further edification and seek it 
with steadfast faith, rather I should say, for all who 
hear and read, I beg, O most blessed Father 2? Tigerno- 
malus, the assistance of thy holy intercessions at the 
throne of God, because Almighty God is wont to refresh 
him who dutifully returns to Him with his heart. 
Besides, Father, believe me, as I have already said, I 
have not chosen to hand down by pen from memory all 
the things stored in my mind concerning St. Samson, 
but, out of many, I have thought it sufficient to bring 


1 Mogillatim, possibly a corrupt reading for modevatim. Du 
Cange refers it to poy:AdAos, stammering. 
2 See Prologue, Chap. III, note. 


60 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL - 61 


together a few, in order that from that which we hold 
among us for certain may result a fruitful edifice in 
the minds of hearers and readers alike. For what need 
have we, who know many things more and have heard 
as I consider sufficient, to thrust forward anything 
further concerning his fastings and abstinences? We 
beg 1 thee, whoever thou art, who readest this little 
book, to hold me blameless for my lack of skull. 

II. Well then, dearest brothers, we have made plain, 
so far as we have been able and that meagrely, I think, 
the declared experience of that so great and distinguished 
aman, St. Samson, from the beginning of that elect one 
to his happy end, at thy will, O most blessed Father 
Tigernomalus, having unquestionable certainty thereof 
by the most sure evidence granted by God to us, however 
unworthy we may be. But now also that grand and 
holy and yearly celebration, by which in his 2 deserved 
and splendid honour it is wont to be kept, as year 
succeeds year, is at hand, and puts it into our mind to 
help by a little work of this nature and, in the rejoicing 
of the festival itself, to enlarge our hearts to the greater 
profit of our souls. For, on this wise, shall we have 
profit from it. From whatsoever source it shall have’ 
been made manifest, it is clear that we are not by any 
means to hide the incomparable virtues of so great a 
man, but, with the pen, to bring forward the help or 
example and pattern of the well-doing of the churches 
of Christ and, following apostolic precedent, the memory 
of this the best of men, for example, to be a model 
profitable to many who are earnestly striving to reach 
virtue’s highest point. And, therefore, with the return 
of this festival, reason demands that we, combining 
something of admiration with apostolic and spiritual 


1 poscimus. 2 in cujus = qua tn illius. 


62 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


joy, should unfold something worthy of this our splendid 
yearly day of festivity, as far as the strength of our 
ability may be equal to the task, and, along with the 
virtues of the same saint, something—as much as one 
has been able and not as much as suffices—be it said. 
Nevertheless, it remains for us to consider somewhat 
concerning the works of daily and present occurrence of 
the same man, as they not inadequately correspond 
with those of the past, which have been already described, 
and above all, to consider those which, on the annual 
celebration of this day, the Lord fails not to perform 
for those who look on, by the same saint; not by 
enumerating those works, for that surely is impossible, 
but by honouring and presenting them, so that by this 
light it may appear clearer to all, who keep this anni- 
versary after a catholic manner, in what way this faithful 
saint has been received into the heavens, by whom we 
perceive and know the Lord? accomplishes all things 
among us on earth. 

III. For who, indeed, on this day is able to reckon 
up adequately how many feeble-minded, how many 
blind, how many cripples, how many epileptics, how 
many possessed, how many subject to various kinds of 
sickness, have in our times been set free from their 
infirmities at the intercession of our chief priest ? Samson, 
now with God, whose commemoration is an occasion of 
thanksgiving to-day? Of a truth without number are 
the beds and couches cast away by the sick. And how 
many hindered by infirmities of body and of mind have 
been made whole by God’s help on this same day by 
the same saint! And what more is there to recall 
concerning our saint unless it be to bring to mind, with 
huge delight, as it seems to me, the apostolic virtue of 


1 Dominum. 2 antistite. 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 63 


old time, by God’s goodness, at length shining forth 
again with a certain correspondent manifestation to us? 
When in the Acts of the Apostles the apostles were 
come together into one place, that is, to Solomon’s 
Porch, which we can understand figuratively as in truth 
a token of peace and unity; when crowds without 
number came, even by means of the shadow of the 
same apostles they were made whole, every one of them, 
of all the diseases which they had. And truly up to 
this day, throughout the whole world, wherever Chris- 
tians are scattered, through the yearly festivals which 
they keep in honour of individuals, the Lord never 
ceases to perform mighty works. In like manner also, 
on this splendid and festal day, at God’s inspiration, by 
this man of whom we began to write, by St. Samson, 
mighty works of God, truly not inferior by comparison, 
have been made manifest on the most sure evidence. 
Accordingly, we recognise him to be endowed on such 
wise with his everlasting quality and unhampered 
freedom, and with the ineffable blessedness, so to speak, 
of the heavenly kingdom that, on this account, year by 
year, our heart gladdens again and again to spiritual 
joy. And hence it is that we seem to perceive, as God 
enlightens us, the next life with a kind of clear and 
keen insight, and that not so much by symbols as by 
the actual, true, visible things which, as I may say, 
with much certainty, we see him performing by God’s 
help in our midst. For indeed, as I have said, we firmly 
believe him to be engaged there in another, better and 
unending life among the saints of God,! whom we 
perceive shining forth among us who are alive, strong 
and mighty in the work of God. 

IV. And on this account, dearest brothers, by the 


1 intey sanctos Det. 


64 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


favour of God, let us earnestly strive, as the result of 
an intense and supreme effort, with unshaken faith and 
hope, not as with a doubtful but with a most accurate 
pattern (before us) by way of support, to fashion our 
uncertain life after the example of that renowned and 
most blessed man St. Samson, in essential matters, 
that is, as far as faith is concerned, and to adjust dili- 
gently our hearing, with ample and full perception, to 
the reading of this little work, though it is short, that 
the things which have served him for a garland may 
serve us for salvation. For it is not meet that anyone, 
who is disposed to reverence St. Samson for his works 
and again in the yearly celebrations, should defile his 
life with foul pollution through wandering and vain or 
silly and above all vicious employments,! because it is 
very disgraceful, and, moreover, hateful to Almighty 
God, that he, who reverences this solemn and holy day, 
by the service of the tongue and by the accustomed 
solemnities, should appear with polluted mind in the 
presence of Almighty God, and that crimes and sins 
should have dominion over him. For thus, indeed, a 
certain wise man ? speaks when he discusses the Day of 
Judgment, for he says, “ To what particular apostles, 
to what particular saints, shall we be prepared to flee 
for refuge, the examples no less than the words of whom 
we have despised?’’ Moreover, that man certainly runs 
counter * to the example of this saint who, for instance, 
profanes this venerable usage by lip service merely and 
destroys it by a wicked and sinful life. For what does 


1 operationes. 

2 The wise man is St. Gregory the Great (540-604), the reformer 
of Church Music, who became Pope in 591 and sent St. Augustine 
to England in 597. ‘The passage here referred to is from Hom. 
in Evangel., II, xxxii, 8. 

3 displictt. 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 65 


it profit if anyone, about to approach the man of a 
certain prince in respect of any crime,! to beg him to 
be his intercessor, shall himself, by his wicked attacks, 
provoke the same intercessor to anger? Would not his 
anger be kindled worse against him if, through any 
mockery, his case should be set forward, as it were 
unwillingly, by intercession; and, what is more serious, 
would not the mind of the ruler wax hot against him 
and be moved to displeasure rather than to favour if 
he should crave indulgence for his fault by infamy? 
For thus we read in the Old Testament, whén the Lord 
would unfold His complaint against a rebellious people, 
both rejecting (that people) as if by reason of its own 
pleading, and appropriately ? denouncing its vile suppli- 
cations, and meanwhile, having brought forth the best 
men by name and introduced them into their midst, 
He forbids them the obligation of praying for the same 
people, for He says, “‘ Though Moses and Samuel stood 
before Me, yet My mind is not toward this people ’”’; * 
whence also this (saying) has received the warrant of 
the Gospel, in that having Christ for its Author, it 
exclaims, “‘ Why is it that ye call me Lord, Lord, and 
do not the things which I say?” 4 

V. Therefore, my brothers, to honour the festivals 
of the saints is nothing else than to adjust lovingly our 
mind to their good qualities, of which we are fully 


1 The sense of this passage would be improved if we might 
read dtlectum for delictum. It would then read, ‘‘ approach 
some favourite of a prince.’ Also at the close of the next 
sentence we should have “‘ his favourite’s indulgence.” 

2 competenter. 

3 Jeremiah x, 2. 

4 St. Luke vi, 46. As M. Duine has pointed out, the reading 
in the Vita Samsonis differs from that of the Vulgate, The 
former gives Quid est quod dicitis miht Domine, etc.: the latter, 
Quid autem vocatis me Domine, etc. 


66 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


cognisant; (so that) by imitating them we may be able 
to follow the same men, under God’s guidance, by the 
straightest course 1 to that 2 unspeakable and heavenly 
kingdom to which they have happily attained, not 
rivalling them in great deeds, but sharing their difficult 
tasks, which by abstinence, prolonged and incredible, 
so to speak, to the untried,® with whom all things are 
not thought possible to him that believeth, they engaged 
in until the happy close of this life. Besides, as a 
Scripture ® saith, “ It profits nothing to take part in the 
feasts of men if it chance that one is absent from the 
feasts of Angels.”” 7 As I have said, what does it profit 
if we are seen to rejoice with them who rejoice in this 
world and, on account of lawless and vile works, by 
which God is offended, we shall have been severed, as 
exiles, from the fellowship of the saints, that is, from 
the heavenly kingdom which is everlastingly with God ? 
Behold, we have kept festivals on earth; we must take 
care, above all, that we are found worthy to take part, 
undefiled and without spot, in the heavenly and eternal 
festivals with the companies of Angels. And therefore 
let us hasten to cut off, at the roots, the things which 
hinder us and which are contrary to these works whereby 
God is conciliated,§ and let us keenly direct our atten- 
tion, not to the concerns in which we have been, but to 
those in which we are about to be engaged, because 
Almighty God has promised to set him free who turns 
to Him dutifully with all his heart, and, in making the 

1 vectissima linea. 2 ad illud. 3 vtytutibus. 

* incredibilem. 5 inexpertis. 

6 The Scripture is that of St. Gregory and is taken from 
Hom. in Evangel., II, xxvi, 10. 

7 For the reading of the text et decet contingat festis, St. Gregory 
has si deesse contingat festis. Our biographer probably quoted 


from memory. 
8 placatur. 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 67 


offer by a prophet, He says, ‘“‘ In whatsoever day and 
in whatsoever hour the sinner shall turn unto Me I will 
forget all his iniquities.”’ } 

VI. Let no one, therefore, dearest brothers, have 
confidence, if in body only, with worldly interests, he 
appear at this sacred festival and in his manner of life 
remain corrupt and irreconciled before the eyes of the 
hidden and inward spectator who is truly the witness 
and judge. But, as I remember to have said by way 
of parenthesis at the beginning and end of the other 
brief letter, by no means all the things which we should 
recognise as falling within our recollection, respecting 
the works ? of St. Samson, have been handed down in 
writings. Even in the relation of this second little 
work so far some, indeed a few only, are to be unrolled 
to furnish an example of this fact and of that statement ; 
so that from them it may appear to all better founded 
and more sensible to hold that it is no advantage (to 
man) to exhibit an example of sanctity before the 
saints and, in the sight of Almighty God Himself, to 
separate themselves * from the same saints by bad and 
foul habits. 

VII. For indeed, on a certain occasion, when the 
same Samson went to see* Father Dubricius, already 
mentioned in the former part of the epistle, who was 
troubled with a certain bodily ailment, and the same 
Dubricius begged St. Samson that a certain boy, clearly 
an intimate acquaintance of his, a deacon, Morinus by 
name, might live ® with him, St. Samson, forasmuch as 
he was filled with the Holy Spirit, looking upon the 
boy and placing the sign of the Cross upon his forehead 
as he was wont to do, and lovingly receiving him with 


1 Cf, Ezekiel xxxiii, 11-15. 2 vivtutibus. 
3 se disjungere. 4 iter ageret. > habitaret. 


68 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


his hands and affectionately kissing him, after a short 
silence thus very joyously at length gave answer: “ My 
father, the net, cast into the bight of the sea, receives 
all the fish it can catch, but when it is drawn at length 
to land, the fishermen separate the good from the bad.” 
When he heard this, Father Dubricius, forasmuch as 
that deacon was clearly dear to him, sighing within 
himself, hid his annoyance by keeping silence, but on 
such wise that he could not in the least conceal it by 
his countenance. St. Samson indeed, by careful scrutiny 
perceiving this for himself, as though he did not discern 
anything, joyfully ordered his chrism, from which the 
office of the episcopate acquired its amplest privilege, 
to be given to the same deacon that he might the more 
easily please the father, charging his companions that 
in his honour, as a trusty friend of his father, they 
should give him precedence; and not only this, but that 
they should admit him before all others to the greater 
and most famous council of administration, so that in 
no honour whatsoever, temporal or spiritual, should 
anyone seem to surpass him. St. Samson knew before- 
hand by the Spirit, God as I suppose revealing it, of 
what nature anyone would turn out to be, as afterwards 
the truth of the matter showed. 

VIII. For, as experienced and religious men and, 
what is more, as letters of the same purport written in 
a catholic spirit from a place beyond the sea have 
conveyed to me, on a certain night as they stood, both 
of them, in the church together for prayer, with the 
same outward show but with a different temper of 
mind, St. Samson, looking upon this same deacon, saw 
a certain blackamoor like a little boy sitting on his left 
shoulder with his mouth always turned towards his ear, 
on such wise that St. Samson knew that a conversation 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL — 69 


was taking place between a certain devil } and the man. 
When he saw this, in the first place, St. Samson fortified 
his resolution ? by making the saving sign, and forth- 
with, hardly with regret, ordered the brother to go 
away while he alone, continuing steadfastly in prayer, 
ever more and more besought the Lord that He would 
deign to lay bare fully to that man his wickedness in 
its true colours. Without delay, the deacon went and 
fell on a heap in bed; immediately a violent fever 
overtook him so that, as he trembled and turned pale, 
yea, gnashed and tore with his teeth, all who had 
approached and seen him, cried out that he was pos- 
sessed. When word was brought to St. Samson as he 
prayed, he ran up in haste. Now when the sick man 
saw him from afar, with a fearful cry he lifted up his 
voice and said, ‘‘ Come! come, Elect of God, I beseech 
thee, entreat thy God for me lest I finally perish, for, 
by reason of thy virtue from this time forth to be 
marvelled at and by reason of my demerits now to be 
laid bare, I have been revealed to thee as unworthy of 
thy holy indulgence. From childhood until now I have 
been ever trained to evil by the artifice of philosophy; ® 
for the blackamoor whom thou hast beheld, I have ever 
had for my teacher * in those things which are hateful 
to God, so that no one seemed to surpass me in them; 
but now > I am no longer allowed to live in shamefulness, 
and therefore I entreat thee to pray to God the Saviour 
for the ransoming of my soul even after suffering.” 
And on this wise, as he, who had been filled with all 
villainy and mischief, poured forth with tears in the 


1 guendam zabulum, The word is used for diabolus by Cassian 
and Gildas. 

2 Literally, ‘‘ armed his face.” 3 philosophia machinaiione. 

* doctovem. 5 nunc. 


70 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


presence of them all his confession, immediately he 
became dumb, and from that same hour until his death 
he had no strength to speak anything at all. Indeed 
the following night, at midnight, as all the brothers 
stood around him and unceasingly prayed for his 
soul’s salvation, that unclean soul passed from out the 
body. 

IX. Now when morning appeared, St. Samson 
ordered them to carry that poor body outside the gate 
of the monastery to be buried. For three whole days 
and as many nights, continuing steadfast at the accus- 
tomed prayers, he remained without food and without 
sleep, beseeching God earnestly and with tears that, for 
his sake, He would be pleased to admit the soul of this 
most wretched man, even after sore and righteous 
penance, to favour, At length having slept a little, 
after intense weariness of body, the comfort of God 
arrived which, both as regards the absolution of the 
brother’s soul at the last, and the return of his body to 
the monastery, gently arranged all things. And after 
some time it was proposed, with the Lord’s permission, 
that masses should be sung ! for him by Samson himself, 
and this accordingly was done and he himself offered 
masses for the same brother for a long time until, by a 
heavenly announcement, he knew the happy soul of the 
same to be at liberty. And from this is derived the 
lesson which shows that it is not in the least possible to 
hide anything, at any time, good or evil, from the 
saints. But, in order to add strength to our opinion, 
we desire to affirm, by means of another example, a 
fact which, although after his death, we know beyond 
doubt to have occurred. 

X. Now some little time afterwards, when he of 


1 decantar?, 


oie iti DBs ST. SAMSON Ob DDL) 4x 


whom we speak had happily departed to his Lord, 
after some interval of time, the crosier, which was ever 
wont to be carried before him and which he had blessed, 
which in short had been encircled and adorned with 
lovely things of gold and silver and precious stones, 
was secretly 1 taken from its case and despoiled by a 
certain criminous and very wicked man. But this deed 
of silence and secrecy, the Holy Spirit of God, who ever 
dwelt with St. Samson, did not allow in silence. For, 
in the same hour, as he was carrying off those valuables 
above mentioned, terror seized him to such a degree 
that, tormented by the enormity of that unwonted fear, 
he had fallen prostrate to the ground as if half dead. 
Yet could not this suffice for the warning of a determined 
and abandoned man. For, after that, while stubbornly 
and doggedly accomplishing his career (of crime), on a 
certain night at the winter solstice he came across a 
certain pond ice-bound with frozen water, which under 
his feet suddenly broke asunder and he, as no doubt 
his deserts demanded,? died the same night with the 
fatal ice drawn tight around him, and the cloth,® in 
which the above-mentioned valuables had been placed, 
fell from his unwilling hands. And it came to pass 
that, while those brothers who were in this place were 
sorrowing 4 for the loss of the valuables, a certain man, 
taking a stroll the following day, found the cloth in 
which the aforesaid treasure had been concealed and 
saw the contents lying on the ice, and afterwards looking 
about him,® the stiffened corpse standing rigid in the 
midst of the ice. When he saw it, the brother, dumb- 
founded and wondering at all the things which he had 
seen, related them in order to the rest. When these 


1 furtim, 2 exigentibus. 3 linteamen. 
* contristantibus, 5 circum se aspiciens, 
H 


72 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


brothers saw the treasure they thereupon recognised it 
as having been torn from the crosier. On this account, 
therefore, who can doubt that St. Samson transmitted 
this power, from whom, dying in the flesh, nay, rather, 
ever living with his God, it is not possible, at one time 
or another, to hide anything whether good or evil? 
But whatsoever, and also of whatsoever kind, or at 
whatsoever time God wills, He clearly reveals to and 
transmits through His saints, in order that we ignorant 
and dull? ones, placed, for instance, in this filthy mire, 
may certainly know that they are present at these 
employments whether good or evil, whichsoever we do; 
forsooth as they, who are with their God, are already 
glorified, if not perfectly yet happily, as far as it is 
possible that so it should be. 

XI. But let us bethink 2 ourselves of this saint, 
while we seek to call to mind everything which good 
report has spread concerning him. As we write, how- 
ever, our consciences torment us, forasmuch as we well 
know we are sufficiently unworthy and unequal to this 
so wonderful and difficult a task. Yet the mercy of 
Almighty God, which is never lacking to those who trust 
in Him, has in this respect encouraged us to weave anew 
this vrork, to be of use for the benefit of others, yea, to 
the end of time, through us who are ignorant, without 
eloquence and clearly unworthy. And how far others 
may publish it, both as an example of a good work, by 
reading it aloud, and as a proof of the merits of His 
apostles and of all other saints, by following their 
examples, may be discovered in the mercy of God not to 
shed forth less of His grace upon us; inasmuch as to 
him, the illustrious saint, of whom we treat (and whose 
festival to-day is happily beginning to shine forth among 


1 pigri. 2 vecordamur. 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 73 


many Britons and Romans;! beyond the sea, and on this 
side of it, and so to speak in heaven, and in earth upon 
us who sufficiently look for it), was so perfect and com- 
plete in the fulfilment of all works of righteousness that, 
rivalling the aforementioned apostles and other saints, 
to no one, in short, or in the very least, is he held to be 
inferior to them even in the manifestation of signs and 
wonders. For this reason, up to the present day, all, 
who through him earnestly seek from the Lord with all 
the strength of faith the healing of the body, find it. 
For what else, dearest brothers, do we look to proclaim, 
by this (festival), but the everlasting felicity of St. Sam- 
son in the heavens, who, although absent from us in the 
body, yet from some kind of excellence which he enjoys 
with God, being of heavenly rank, is without any 
impediment ever at hand to us, if with honest and clean 
heart, with untroubled and pure conscience, with regret 
for mean act and rash alike, we keep the feast day of the 
same saint and strive, through him, for the help of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. For thence it arises 
that we are truly judged by our own selves and rightly 
rewarded,? on the showing of the Gospel,? by that 
measure, that is, by that performance by which we are 
distinguished. Do not, I beseech you, my brothers, 
criticise among yourselves our stupid and grievous 
ignorances, especially since ye yourselves know perfectly 
well that Almighty God is the clearest * discerner not of 
words but of deeds. Let no one, therefore, presume to 
take part in this beautiful celebration, so far as with the 
body he is able to do so, along with those who, according 
to the catholic pattern of the holy fathers gone before, 
blamelessly engage in it, if, in his heart, where God alone 


1 Inhabitants of Romania and Brittany. ? vepensamur. 
3 St. Matthew, vii, 2. 4 pevspicacissimus, 


74 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


is observer, he still continue corruptly and perversely in 
the wicked ways by which he: is defiled. But he who 
desires to take part in these celebrations intelligently, 
above all let him strive to deserve and win a place of 
refreshment and peace in that everlasting festival of 
heaven, because that saint, with whom we are concerned, 
although, as it would seem, was full of the Spirit of 
God beyond all others living on the earth in his own day, 
and shone forth in signs and wonders and the works of 
God, nevertheless surpassed almost ali these by the 
extent of his vigils and fasts and every kind of self- 
denial. 

XII. For, as they related of him, who had been suffi- 
ciently instructed in his lifetime, he practised very 
frequent and particularly severe fasts,! besides fasts of 
two days and sometimes whole weeks, that is, seven 
whole days and on the seventh day only was he refreshed. 
Moreover, he was wont, very often, to spend very long 
nights by standing from nightfall till the return of day 
with his staff quite dropped from his hands.2 What 
more shall I say? Neither by day nor by night did he 
cease from prayer and communion with God. Indeed we 
have heard that the time of the Lenten fast was so spent 
that at the beginning ® he used to withdraw from human 
habitations to some rather remote spot, carrying with 
him three loaves* to suffice him until the joy of the 
Paschal Celebration, God supporting him in all things. 
Having the zeal for God and for His Church burning in 
his heart; regulating, with a fine discrimination, his 
instruction seasoned with divine salt according to the 
characters of sinners; filled, so to speak, with God, he 

1 superpositiones. See Du Cange, Glossary. 
2 ¢.e., denying himself even that support. 

3 in initio. 

4 oblationes, bread for communion. 


THE LIPE -Ob+ST.. SAMSON’ OF DOL”. 75 


was courteous and dear to all. And this testimony 
reminds us to confirm our assertion concerning the works 
wrought by him. 

XIII. For when, on a certain occasion, he preached in 
the island of Lesia,! he arrived at the yearly return of the 
Kalends of January (7. e., January rst),2 because the men 
of the aforesaid island had been accustomed to celebrate, 
indeed beyond all others, this wretched anniversary 
according to a vile custom of their fathers. But he, 
prudent in spirit, to soften their hardness caused them all 
to come together to one place, and, God showing the way, 
a discussion took place for the removal of so great evils. 
Then all these men, truly loving? him, for his sake 
anathematised these evils and truly promised to submit 
unreservedly to his directions. He, none the less 
rejoicing in the Lord, according to the Apostle’s (words), 
called to him all the young children, who were running 
about throughout the island on account of this abomin- 
able holiday, and gave to each of them, in solemn jest, 
by way of reward, a very trifling piece of gold, and 
instructed them in the name of the Lord that this 
impious custom must be no longer observed by them. 
And so, to this day, in this same place spiritual jests have 
continued to be a sound # and catholic (currency). 

XIV. But now, if you please, let these very brief 
sketches, gathered from a large number, concerning the 
countless works which God wrought by the same St. 


1 According to M. de la Borderie, Angia is Jersey and Lesia 
Guernsey. 

2 The orgies on the 1st of January are denounced in the 
lives of St. Brieuc and St. Ninnoc. Cf. Neander, Church History, 
III, 446. 

3 amantes. 

4 There seems to be a play upon the word solidus, “ sound,” 
which also means a gold coin, at first worth about 25 denarii, 
but afterwards worth about half as much. 


76 THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 


Samson, suffice. Let us in spirit come back to ourselves, 
to the imitation of our saint; let us love the deeds *? in 
which we have learnt that he pleased God; let our 
deeds correspond with the best services in which, as we 
have undoubtedly learnt, he excelled others. For so, 
in the Old Testament, we read, when it was said figura- 
tively at the Lord’s command to Moses concerning the 
eating of the lamb; so speaking, he says, “‘ Ye shall eat 
it having your loins girded and with shoes on your feet,’’ ? 
and so forth. Ofa truth, when they celebrate the festi- 
val of the Saints at the yearly season, let us remark that, 
before all things, it is necessary that we should learn to 
have the loins girded, that is, we must bring before 
Almighty God chastity of body and purity of mind for 
sacrifice; moreover, let us take care to have shoes on 
our feet, because, by closely treading in the footprints 
of the holy fathers who have died and gone before, 
we furnish our souls with spiritual shoes. And hence it 
follows that, not by proclaiming the deeds of the same 
men with the voice, but by imitating and loving their 
work, we ourselves set our course in the right way 
which leads to heaven. For, truly, the requests which 
are sought of Christ through the saints are not to be 
mixed up with evil habits; but, by the faithful supplica- 
tion of those who pray, all things are bestowed in accord- 
ance with the fore-knowledge of the Lord who hears and 
knows; nay, in fact, with the awful knowledge of this, 
we ought thoroughly to examine ourselves in the case of 
our supplications, because the Lord Himself dreadfully 
laments in the Gospel, saying, ‘“‘ Not everyone that saith 
unto Me, Lord, shall himself enter the kingdom of heaven, 


1 actus. 


* Exodus xii, 11: slumbos vestros precingetis. The Vulgate 
reads, venes vestyos accingetis. 


THE LIFE OF ST. SAMSON OF DOL 7 


but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in 
heaven.” 1 Whosoever, therefore, merely prays with his 
lips and belies his prayers by his conduct, procures scorn 
for himself; nay, renders himself hateful rather than 
pleasing to the Lord. Therefore, they only are wont to 
be heard by the Lord who seek a thing by prayer and 
ensue it by good conduct. For there is present to my 
mind a matter very clearly outlined, with which many 
of you, dearest brothers, are acquainted, and one which 
I only learnt from a certain excellent brother who 
assured me that he was himself present. 

XV. For, on a certain occasion at the most famous and 
best of places wherein St. Samson rests in peace, a 
sudden and fearful fire attacked the house which the 
brothers, around the oven, were. providing with bread, 
which was on the point of being baked, so that a huge 
flame mounted to the roof and hissed in the thatch. 
But no sooner did they discover it than the servants of 
God, who were assembled in the church for the service 
of Nones, with one accord, together with the holy and 
venerable Bishop Loucher himself, rushed together; the 
crosier of St. Samson and his walking staff were brought 
forth from the church; and when, at full speed, they 
drew near to the burning house, they humbly and with 
full assurance of faith called upon Samson to help them, 
saying, ‘‘ Elect of God, St. Samson, set free, we beseech 
thee,? these thy houses so that they be not destroyed 
by this fire.’ Without delay, at the first word of those 
who prayed, a very heavy shower of rain burst forth to 
such a degree that the fire, which had grown fatally 
violent, was seen to be extinguished before the eyes 


1 St. Matthew vii, 21. Here again there is, in the text, the 
use of some version of the Holy Scriptures other than the Vulgate. 
2 quae sunt for quaesumus. 


78 THE UFE OF ST: SAMSON OF .DOL 


of all who looked on, for further harm appeared no 
more. 

XVI. Take heed, therefore, dearest brothers, that 
you who reverence the saints by paying them honour 
at the yearly festivals are also able to reverence the good 
which they themselves have done, by imitating them in 
your manner of life. Take heed, I say, that you,1 who 
have been found worthy to take part in the earthly 
festivals of holy men may also be found worthy to take 
part in the felicity which they enjoy to the full in the 
heavenly festivals of angels, so that, while you seek to 
follow the doctrines which they taught and the deeds in 
which they unceasingly and unsparingly laboured, you 
may have strength to follow, under God’s guidance, and 
with their intercessions, by a sure course, that path of 
theirs which led them, without any let of earthly hin- 
drance, to everlasting felicity, where our Lord Jesus 
Christ reigneth for ever, to whom, with the Father and 
the Holy Spirit, is glory and honour everlasting, world 
without end. Amen. 


1 ut qui. 


INDEX 


AARON, v 

Abbat-bishops (see Bishoprics) 

Actard, bp., xxxiii 

Acta Sanctorum, xxxiv 

Afrella, 9 

Alain Fergent, xxxiv 

Alban, v 

Aleth, xxix 

enon x1, xxi, 8) 13,28, 433; 
34, 35, 42 f 

Angels at the Eucharist, 45, 46 

Angia, 58 

Anna, xi, 8, 9 

Anointing, 19, 26, 54 

Anthony, v2. 

Arles, v, vi 

Armorica, under the Romans, 
xxiv; Gallo-Roman bishop- 
rics, xxiv; colonised, vii; 
transformation, xxXvi-—xxix; 
map, XXvii 

Arx Etri, 40 7”. 

Athelstan, xxxvi, Xxxvii 

Atoclius, 14, 15 

Augustine of Canterbury, xvi, 
xxx 


Bacchantes, 49 

Bede, v 

Berger, M., xviii 

Bertoald (Berchtwald), xxxiii 

Bethlehem, viii 

Bishoprics in monasteries, xiv. 
XV, XVi, XxXix 

Blackamoor, 68, 69 

Borderie, M. de la, 75 ”. 

Bottrell, B., xxxvii 7. 

Brieuc, xxix, xxxli, 75 ”. 

Britain, relations with Gaul, 
vi; 40, 42 


British Church, isolation, xvii 

Brittany, vii, xXxili-xxxviii, 57; 
58; bishoprics, xxix; cult 
of Saints, folklore and 
legends, xxxvii 

Bro-Waroch, xxix 

Budoc, xxxv 

Bury, Prof., vi 


Cadoc, xli 
Caecilian, v 
Caerleon, v 
Calpurnius, vii 
Cardigan, xxix 
Cassian, viii, xvii 
Celestine, viii 
Celtic crosses, 
XXXVii 
Ceolnoth, xvi 
Childebert, see Hiltbert. 
Christianity introduced 
Britain, vi 
Churches, consecration of, 47, 


xli; liturgy, 


into 


58 

Clerical office, 13 

Commorus, 58 

Conan III., xxxiv 

Concannan, Mrs, J., xxii 

Confession, xxii, 33, 70 

Consecration, of Churches, 47, 
58; see Ordination. 

Constantine, xxiv 

Corentin, xxix 

Cornovii, xxvi 

Cornwall, xxvi, xxix, xxxvii, 
49-52 

Corseult, xxv 

Crosier, use of, Xxiil, 71, 77 

Cross, sign of, 36, 38, 49, 55 

Cubert in Cornwall, 3 x. 


fie 


80 INDEX 


David, ix 

De Excidio, ix, xli 

Demetia, 8 

Devon, xxv 

Diablintes, xxv 

Dinurrin, xvi 

Diptychs, xiv, 9 ”. 

Divination, 10, 14, 15, 16, 27 

Docco (St. Kew), xii, 47 

Dol, xii, xxix, 53, 59, 77; 
archbishopric, xxxi—xxxiv, 
bishopric, xxxv; Cathedral, 
XXXV 

Domnonia, 58 

Dove, 19, 20, 20 %., 45 

Dreams, see Divination. 

Dubricius, xii, 19, 37, 44, 45, 
67, 68 

Duchesne, Mgr., xx7., xxii, 
xxiii, 37 7.,.46 7. 

Duine, L’ Abbé, xiii, xiv, xvii, 
XXil, XXXVilil, 44 ”., 65”, 

Dumnonii, xxvi 

Dwent, 8 

Dyfed, 8 x”. 


Edward the Elder, xxxvi 

Egloshayle, xii 

Eltut (Iltut), viii, xi, xii, xix, 
XXXV, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20, 27 

Eucharist, 20, 24, 43, 45 

Eulogiae, 46 n. 

Evagrius, xvii 

Even, abp. of Dol, xxxiv 

Ezekiel, 4 


Fabian, 20 7”. 

False Decretals, xxxiii ”. 

Fasting, 17, 18, 21, 22, 26, 37, 
39, 51, OI, 70, 74 

Fawtier, R., xiv, xxxviii, xl, 
Bn. 

Felix, v 

Festien, Abp., xxxii 

Festival, patronal, 62 

Fortescue Adrian, xxi”. 

Fortunatus, xvii 

Fournier, P., xxxiii ”. 

Fowey, xii, xlii 

Frere, Bp., xx 7. 


German (Germanus), vii, viii, 
X1X, 14, 43 

Gildas, ix, x, xxx, 3”. 

Gregory of Tours, x, xiv, xxxi 

Gregory the Great, xvii, 64 z., 
66 xn, 

Gregory VII., xxxiv 

Guedianus, 49 

Guerande, xxvi 

Guernsey, 75 7. 

Gwent, xxix, 8 ”. 


Henoc, xiv, 5 ”. 

Henry I., xxxiv 

Henry VIIL., xlii 

Hiltbert (Childebert), xv, 54, 
58 


Idol, 49 

Iltut, St. (see Eltut). 
Innocent III., xxxiv 
Ireland, xvi, 39, 42 
Isanus, 14, 15 


Jerome, viii, x, xvii 

Jersey, XXxv, 75 ”. 

Jonas, 53 

Jublains, xxv 

yo XV, 53, 54, 55, 57, 88 
ulius Caesar, xxv 

Julius of Caerleon, v 

Juniavus (Winniau), xii, 48 

Jurisdiction, xxx 

jJuthael, xxxiv 


Kenstec, xvi 
St. Kew, see Docco. 


Le Braz, A., Xxxvii 7”. 

Léon, xxix 

Lérins, viii 

Lesia, 58, 75, 75 %. 

Librarius, 9, 10 

Llandaff, Book of, xxxvi 

Llantwit, ix, xi, xxix, 14 ”. 

Liturgy, Gallican and British, 
vii 

Longnon, M., xxiv ”. 

Loth, Prof., vii ”., ix, xiv, Xvi, 
XXXVIli, 3 7., 57. 


INDEX 81 


Loucher, Bp., 77 

Loup (Lupus), vii 
Lowther Clarke, W. K., v 
Lugdunensis Tertia, xxiv 


Maclean, Bp., 46%. 

Magloire, xvii, xxxv 

Malo, xvii, xxix 

Mansuetus, xxx 

Martin of Tours, xvii 

Mass, see Eucharist. 

Masses for the Dead, 15, 70 

Mén-an-tol, xxxvii 

Metz M.S., xl 

Miracles, xiii, I9, 23, 25, 26, 
31, 32, 37, 38, 40, 43, 50, 
51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57958, 
62, 77 

Mitre, 44 

Monastery bishoprics, xv, xxix 

Chapter, 45 

hours, 13, 39, 77 

Monasticism, rise and spread of, 
v; in Britain, viii, ix, x 

Morals in the fifth century, x 

Morinus the Deacon, 67 

Mozarabic rite, 46”. 








Nantes, XXv, XXX 
Chronicle, xxxi 7”. 
Neander, A., 75 7. 
Newell, E. J., xin. 
Newman, Dr., vii 7. 
Nicholas I., xxxii, xxxiii 
Nominoé, xxxi 

Nones, 77 

Notitia dignitatum, xxiv 





Offices, hereditary, 22 
Ordination, xx, 19, 21, 45 
Ossismi, xxv, Xxvi 


Papa, 6n. 

Paris, Council at, xxxi 
Patrick, vi, vii 

Paul Aurelian, ix, xvii, xxxix 
Paul, F. W., xxxviili 

Pelagius, vii 

Penetal, xxxix, 41 

Piro, Xx, xii, 26, 27, 29, 38 


Pomponius Mela, xxv ”. 
Poverty, 33, 34 

Prideaux, N., xli 

Primacy of Dol, xxxi 
Prophecy, see Divination. 


Quimper, xxv, xxix 


Redon, xxx 

Rennes, xxv, XXX 

Restoals, xxxiii 

Revue Celtique, 47. 

Roland III., xxxiv, xxxv 
Romania, 5, 58, 73 

Romans, xxxiv., 73 

Rome, state religion, xxiv, 39 


Salacon, xxxiii 

Salamon, king of 
XXXli 

Salvianus, x 

Samson, date of birth and 
sketch of his life, xi; his 
regard for authority, xii, xix, 
xx; ordination: signs which 
pointed to him, xix; his 
ordination, xx, xxi; crosses 
the Channel, xx; attends 
a council at Paris, xxx; cult 
of, xxxi, xxxvi; churches 
in Cornwall under his 
patronage, xli 

Savonniéres, XxXxii 

Saxon invasion, xvi 

Scriptures, study of, 17, 21 

Sedes apostolica, 3 

Sena (Sein), xxv 

Serpents, 18, 35, 50, 57, 58 

Severn, 42, 47 

Severus, vii 

Sigona (Seine), 57 

Silver rods, 10 

Somerset, XXV 

Sorcery, 31 

Southern Sea, 49 

Stipho, 18 

Sulpicius Severus, xvii 

Sysinnius, viii 


Brittany, 


Teilo, xxxvi 


82 INDEX 


Terce, 13 

Theomacha, xviii 

Tigernomalus, xxxix, 3, 3 %., 
60, O1 

Tours, xviii, xxiv, xxv; arch- 
bp.’s jurisdiction, xxx-xxxiv 

Tractus Armoricanus, xxiv 

Tricurius (Trigg), xii, 49 

Tristan and Iseult, xli 

Tutwal, xvii, xxix 


Umbraphel, xxii, 9, 41, 42 


Vannes, XXv, XXX 
Verulam, v 


Visions, 10, 13, 17, 27, 44, 46 

Vita Dubricii, XXxix 

Vita Samsonis, common form; 
criticism of it, xiv, xvii; 
quotations in it, xvii; Scrip- 
tural quotations not from 
Vulgate, xxxvili, Xxxix; 
date, xxxix 

Vows, 33, 34 

Vulgate, xviii 


Wales, xxix 

Warren, F. E., 447., 467, 
Welsh bishoprics, xvi 
Widows, order of, 33, 34 
William the Conqueror, xxxiv 


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Vok) T.:/:to: A.D... 313.) Vol. Tl): paps 931 4 
Edited’ by B. J: Kipp, D.D. 'Vol.:I. 7s. 6a) ) Volar 
ToS. 


SERIES VII. 


Lives of the Serbian Saints. By VovesLtav YANICH 
DD. and. CC. P. Hankey, (M.A? «652 Gd: 


8 


Handbooks of Christian Literature 


The Letters of St. Augustine. By the Rev. Canon 
' W. J. Sparrow Simpson, D.D._ Ios. 


The Early Christian Books. A Short Introduction 
to Christian Literature to the Middle of the Second 
Century. By the Rev. W. JoHN FERRAR, M.A, 35. 6d. 


The Inspiration and Authority of Holy Scripture. 
A Study in the Literature of the First Five 
Centuries. By G. Duncan Barry, B.D. 4s. 6d. 


& 
The Eucharistic Office of the Book of Common Prayer. 
By the Rev. Lestiz WricuT, M.A., B.D. 35. 6d. 


Helps for Students of History 


Edited by C. JOHNSON, M.A., H. W. V. TEMPERLEY, 
M.A., and J. P, WHITNEY, D.D., D.C.L. 


1. Episcopal Registers of England and Wales. By 
R. C, Fowzer, B.A., F.S.A. 6d. 


2. Municipal Records. By F. J. C. Hearnsuaw, M.A., 
: Tle Wie LS 


3. Medieval Reckonings of Time. By Recinatp L. 
FOoLe;. LL.D, Litt.Dy ‘6d. 


4. The Public Record Office. By C. Jonnson, M.A. 62. 
5. The Care of Documents, By C. JoHnson, M.A, 642, 
6. The Logic of History. By C.G. Crump. 8d. 


7, Documents in the Public Record Office, Dublin. 
By R. H. Murray, Litt.D. 84. 


8, The French Wars of Religion. By ArTHurR A. TILLEY, 


M.A. 6d, 
a 


Il. 


I2. 


2I. 


226 


23. 


24. 


Ze. 


Helps for Students of History (continued). 
By Sr A. W. WARD, Litt.D., F.B.A. 


. The Period of Congresses—I. Introductory. 8d. 


Ii. Vienna and the Second Peace of Paris. tvs. 


Ill. Aix=-la=-Chapelle to Verona. ts. 
Nos. 9, 10, and 11 in one volume, cloth, 3s. 6d, 


Securities of Peace: A Retrospect (1848-1914). 
Paper, 2s.; cloth, 3s. 





. The French Renaiceanees By A. A. Tittey, M.A. 8d. 
. Hints on the Study of English Economic History. 


By W. CunnincuaM, D.D., F.B.A., F.S.A. 8d. 


. Parish History and Records. By A. HAMILTON 


THompson, M.A., F.S.A. 8d. 


. A Short Introduction to the Study of Colonial 


History. By A. P. Newton, M.A., D.Litt. 6d. 


. The Wanderings and Homes of Manuscripts. By 


MeR. James, Litt.D., B.A.) Paper, 2555 1clOtiees 


. Ecclesiastical Records. By the Rev. CLAUDE JENKINS, 


M.A., Librarian of Lambeth Palace. 1s. 9d. 


. An Introduction to the History of American 


Diplomacy. By Cart RuSSELL Fisu, Ph.D. Is. 
Hints on Translation from Latin into English. 
By ALEXANDER SOUTER, D.Litt. 6d. 


Hints on the Study of Latin (A.D. 125-750). By 
ALEXANDER SOUTER, D.Litt. 8d. 


Report of the Historical MSS. Commission. By 
RAVACIROBERTS, (FR Histisiiies) 6d. 


A Guide to Franciscan Studies. By A..G. DYETLE, 
is. 6d, ; 


A Guide to the History of Education. By JouHN 
WILLIAM ADAMSON. 8d. 


Introduction to the Study of Russian History. 
By W. F. REppAway. 64. 


1a) 


Helps for Students of History (continued). 


26. Monuments of English Municipal Life. By W. 
CUNNINGHAM, D.D., F.B.A. ts. 

27. La Guyenne Pendant la Domination Anglaise, 
1152=1453- Par CHarLes BEMONT. ts. 4d. 

28. The Historical Criticism of Documents. By R. L. 
MarsHALL, M.A., LL.D. 15. 32. 

29. The French Revolution. By G. P. Goocw. 84d. 

30. Seals. By H.S. KInGsForD. 15. 3d. 

31. A Student’s Guide to the Manuscripts of the British 
Museum. By Juuius P. Gruson, M.A. rs. 

32. A Short Guide to some Manuscripts in the Library 
of Trinity College, Dublin. By R. H. Murray, 
eh Len LS.8 O02 

33-35. Ireland. No. 33, 1494-1603; No. 34, 1603-1714; 
No. 35, 1714-1829. By R. H. Murray, Litt.D. Each, 
1s. Nos. 33-35 in one volume, 35. 6d. 

36. Coins and Medals. ByG. fF. Hitz, M.A., F.B.A. 15. 6d. 

37. The Latin Orient. By W. MiLier, M.A. 1s. 6d. 

38. The Turkish Restoration in Greece, 1718=1797. 
By WILLIAM MILLER, M.A. 1s. 3d. 


39. Sources for the History of Roman Catholics in 
Engiand, Ireland and Scotland, 1533-1795. By 
JoHN HUNGERFORD POLLEN, S.J. 15. 3d. 


40. English Time Books.—Vol. I. English Regnal 
Years and Titles, Hand-lists, Easter Dates, etc. 
Compiled by J. E. W. Wautis, M.A. 4s. 

41. Knights of Malta, 1523-1798. By R. COHEN. 2s. 

42. Records for the Early History of South Africa. By 

- C. Grawam BoTHaA. its. 

43. The Western Manuscripts of the Bodleian Library. 
Bye tit. CRASTER, DiLitti, sad. 

44. Geographical Factors. By H. J. FLEurE. 642. 

45. The Colonial Entry Books. A Brief Guide to the 
Colonial Records in the Public Record Office 
before 1696. By C.S. 5. Hicuam, M.A. 1s. 6d. 

46. The University Library, Cambridge. By H.GIpNEY 
Apis, M.A. 6d. 


TI 


Helps for Students of History (continued). 


47. A Students’ Guide to the Manuscripts relating to 
English History in the Seventeenth Century in 
the Bodleian Library. By G. Davigs. 1s. 


48. History and Ethnology. By W. R. H. Rivers, M.D., 
LLG CRA San Ode 

49. Some Aspects of Boundary Settlement at the 
Peace Conference. By ALAN G. OciLviE, B.Sc. 6d. 

50. The Mechanical Processes of the Historian. By 
CHARLES JOHNSON, M.A., F.S.A. 6d. 


51. The Sources for the History of the Council in the 
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. By 
FE ROADATRS MiAY Usso0d, | 


The Story of the English Towns 


Popular but Scholarly Histories of English Towns for the 
general reader, but suitable also for use in schools. With 
Maps, Plans, and Illustrations. Cloth boards. 4p. 

The City of London. By P. H. Ditrcuriztp, M.A., F.S.A. 
Bath. By CoNnsTaNceE SPENDER and EpitH THOMPSON. 
Birmingham. By J. H. B. MAsTerMan. 

Canterbury. By DoroTHy GARDINER. (Cheaper ed. 2s. 6d.) 
Halifax. By J. S. FLercHer. 

Harrogate and Knaresborough. By J. S. FLETCHER. 
Hastings. By L. F. Sauzman, M.A., F.S.A. 

Leeds. By J. S. FLETCHER. 

Leicester. By S. H. SKILLINGTON. 5s. 


Newcastle-upon-Tyne. By F. J. C. HEARNsHaw, M.A., 
LL.D. 


Nottingham. By E. L, Guitrorp, M.A. 
Peterborough. By K. and R. E. Roserts. 
Plymouth. By A. L. Saumon. 

Pontefract. By J. S. FLercHEr. 

St. Albans. By W. Paces, F.S.A. 

Sheffield. By J. S. FLErcHEr. 

Westminster. By H. F. Westiake, M.A., F.S.A. 


} 


- 


Studies in Church History 


The Cathedral Church of Hereford: Its History and 
Constitution. By ARTHUR THOMAS BANNISTER, M.A. 
7s. 6a. 


The Christian Church in the Epistles of St. Jerome. 
By L. Hucuss, M.A., D.D. 4s. 6d. 


The Prelude to the Reformation. By the Rev. R. S., 
ARROWSMITH. 8s. 


The Albigensian Heresy. By H. J. Warner, B.D. 35. 62. 


The Early Franciscans and Jesuits. A Study in 
Contrasts. By ArtTHuR S. B. FREER, M.A. 6s. 


Some Eighteenth-Century Churchmen: Glimpses of 
English Church Life in the Eighteenth Century. 
By G. Lacey May, M.A. With Illustrations. 9s. 


Christian Monasticism in Egypt to the Close of the 
Fourth Century. By W. H. Macxgan, D.D. 8s. 


The Venerable Bede. His Life and Writings. By the 
Rt. Rev. G. F. Browns, D.D. With Illustrations. ros. 


The Reformation in Ireland. A Study of Ecclesiastical 
Legislation. By H. Hotioway, M.A. 7s. 6d. 


The Emperor Julian. An Essay on His Relations with 
the Christian Religion. By Epwarp J, Martin, 
Be pas.) O72, 


_ The Importance of Women in Anglo-Saxon Times; 


The Cuitus of St. Peter and St. Paul, and other 
Addresses. By the Right Rev. G. F. Browns, D.D. 
With two Illustrations. 75. 6d. 


Essays Liturgical and Historical. By J. WickHAM LEcc, 
DEN, es. 55s 


French Catholics in the Nineteenth Century. By the 
Rev. W, J. Sparrow Simpson, D:D. 5s. 


An Abbot of Vézelay. By RosrE Granam, F.R.Hist.5. 
With eight Illustrations. 35. 6d. 


The Monastic Chronicler and the Early School of 
St. Albans. By CLAUDE JENKINS, M.A. 35. 6d. 


13 


Texts for Students 


. Select Passages from Josephus, Tacitus, Suetonius, 


Dio Cassius, illustrative of Christianity in the First 
Century. Arranged by H. J. Wuitz, D.D. 342. 


. Selections from Matthew Paris. By C. A. J. SKEEL, 


Ditaeang: 


. Selections from Giraldus Cambrensis. By C. A. J. 


SKEEL, D.Lit. 9d. 


. Libri Sancti Patricii. The Latin Writings of St. 


Patrick, etc. By Newport J. D. Wuitr, D.D: 6d. 


. A Translation of the Latin Writings of St, Patrick. 


By Newport J. D. WuiTrE, D.D. 6d. 


. Selections from the Vulgate. 9d. 
. The Epistle of St. Clement of Rome. 6d. 
. Select Extracts from Chronicles and Records re- 


lating to English Towns in the Middle Ages. 
By F. J. C. Hearnsuaw, M.A., LL.D. 94d. 


. The Inscription on the Stele of Mesa. Commonly 


called the Moabite Stone. Translated by the Rev. 
H. F, B. Compston, M.A. 6d. 


. The Epistles of St. Ignatius. rs. 
. Christian Inscriptions. By H.P. V. Nunn, M.A. ts. 
. Selections from the ‘‘ Historia Rerum Anglicarum” 


of William of Newburgh. 1s. 3d. 


. The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles. By T. W. 


CrAFER, D.D. 4d. 134. An English Translation. 3d. 


. The Epistle of Barnabas. Edited by T. W. CRAFER, 


D.D. 6d. 14a. An English Translation. 6d. 


. The Code of Hammurabi. By P. Hanpcock, M.A. ts. 
. Selections from the Tell El-Amarna Letters. By 


PrERcy Hanpcock, M.A. 4d. 


. Select Passages Illustrating Commercial and Diplo- 


matic Relations between England and Russia. 
By A. WEINER, M.A., F.R.Hist.S. 15. 6d. 


. The Early History of the Slavonic Settlements in 


Dalmatia, Croatia and Serbia. By J.B. Bury. 2s. 


. Select Extracts Illustrating Florentine Life in the 


13th and 14th Centuries. By E.G. Roprr, B.A. 1s. 


. Select Extracts [llustrating Florentine Life in the 


15th Century. By EsTHer G. Roper, B.A. 1s. 
Nos. 19 and 20 in one volume, 25. 6d. 


14 


Texts for Students (continued). 


21. Itinerarium Regis Ricardi. By M.T. Sreap. 1s. 9d, 

22. The Second Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. 
6d. 

224. An English Translation of the above. 6d. 

23. Extracts Illustrating Sports and Pastimes in the 
Middle Ages. By E. L. Guitrorp, M.A. 1s. 9d. 

24. Babylonian Flood Stories. 25. Babylonian Peni- 
tential Psalms. By P. Hanpcock, M.A. 6d. each. 


26. The Hymn of Cleanthes. Translated with Introduction 
and Notes by E. H. Buakenry, M.A. 6d. 


27. The Foundations of Modern Ireland. The Civil 
Policy of Henry VIII. and the Reformation. By 
CoNSTANTIA MAXWELL, M.A. ts. 6d. 

28. Selections from the Qur’an. Arranged by H. U. 
WEITBRECHT STANTON, M.D., D.D. 1s. 

29. The Tome of Pope Leo the Great. Latin Text with 
Translation, Introduction, and Notes, by E. H. 
BLAKENEY, M.A. 1s.; duxeen boards, 1s. 6d. 

30. The Book of Amos. Hebrew Text edited by THEODORE 
H. Rosinson, M.A., D.D. 2s. 6d. 

31. Sukkah. (A Critical Hebrew Text.) By A. W. 
GREENUP, D.D. 2s. 6d. 

32. Readings from the Apocrypha. Selected and 
Annotated by E. H. Brakenry, M.A. 15. ; cloth, 15. 62. 

33 English Social Life in the Eighteenth Century. 

& Illustrated from Contemporary Sources. By M. D. 

34. GrorGE. Each 1s. 6d. In one vol. cloth, 3s. 6d. 

35. Texts lustrating Ancient Ruler-Worship. Edited 

eiby ©. Latrey;s.J2) M.A. 6d. 

35a. An English Translation of the above. 6d. 


36. Select Passages Illustrative of Neoplatonism. 
Greek edition. Edited by E. R. Dopps, B.A. 45. 6d. 


37. Traders in East and West. Some Aspects of Trade 
in the 17th and 18th Centuries. By FLORENCE L. 
BowMAN and EsTHER G. ROPER. 2s. 


38. Travellers and Travelling in the Middle Ages. By 
Pes UILEORD, MA.) 2s: 


15 


Pioneers of Progress 
MEN OF SCIENCE : Edited by S. Cuapman, M.A.. D.Sc. 


With Portrait. Paper cover, 1s. ; cloth, 2s. 


Galileo. By W. W. Bryant, F,R.A.S. 

Michael Faraday. By J. A. CRowruer, D.Sc. 

Alfred Russel Wallace. By L. T. Hoczen, B.A., B.Sc. 
Joseph Priestley. By D. H. Peacock, B.A., M.Sc., F.I.C. 
Joseph Dalton Hooker. By F. O. Bower, Sc.D., F.R.S. 


Herschel. By Hector MacpuHerson, M.A., F.R.AS., 
PLR SEs 


Archimedes. By Sir THomas L. Heatu, K.C.B., F.R.S. 


The Copernicus of Antiquity (Aristarchus of Samos). 
By Sir THomas L. Heatu, K.C.B., F.R.S. 


John Dalton. By L. J. NEVILLE-PoLLEy, B.Sc. 
Kepler. By WALTER W. Bryant, F.R.A.S. | 
Richard Arkwright. By J. H. Craprree. (Duxeen, 2s.) 


EMPIRE BUILDERS: Edited by W. Basi. WorsFo.p, 
M.A. With Portrait. Paper cover, 1s.; cloth, 2s. 


Sir Francis Drake. By WALTER J. HARTE, M.A. 
Sir Robert Sandeman. By A. L. P. Tucker, C.I.E. 


Mungo Park. By W. H. Hewitt, B.A., B.Sc. (Duxeen, 
2s. 6d.) 


Richard Hakluyt. By Fosrer Watson, D.Litt. (Duxeen, 
25. 6d.) 


WOMEN: Edited by ErHEL M. Barton. 
With Illustrations. Paper cover, 2s.; cloth, 3s. 
Florence Nightingale. By E. F. HA. 


Dorothea Beale. By ELizasetH H. SHILLITO, B.A. 
Elsie Inglis. By Eva SHAw McLaReEN. 


Josephine Butler, and her work for Social Purity. 
By L. Hay Cooper. With Two Portraits. Cloth. 5s. 


[1.12.24. 
Printed in Great Britain by R. Clay & Sons, Lid., Bungay, Suffolk. 


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